Donny McCaslin is 'Beyond Now" and Beyond Bowie on New Motema Music Project [REVIEW]
The core of David Bowie's last band-saxophonist Donny McCaslin, bassist Tim Lefebvre, drummer Mark Guiliana and keyboardist Jason Lindner-who all performed on Bowie's 2016 Blackstar swan song, reunite for Beyond Now (Motema Music). Recorded just three months after Bowie's untimely demise, and dedicated to the fallen rock star, McCaslin's debut shows just how close to jazz Bowie's final vision was.
They cover two Bowie originals: the 8:40 "Warszawa," co-written with Brian Eno for his 1977 Low, and "A Small Plot of Land" (with vocalist Jeff Taylor) from Bowie's 1995 Outside. McCaslin wrote the title track for Blackstar but it wasn't used. Mutemouth's "Remain" closes things out on an even more alternative note while a cover of "Coelacanth 1" by Deadmau5 stretches all known boundaries completely.
These boys aren't swiss cheese. Bowie handpicked them from the bands of Tedeschi-Trucks, Saturday Night Live, Meshell Ndegeocello, Brad Mehldau and Now Vs Now. Their playing is inspired and complex, fusing jazz, alt.pop, fusion and world elements. It's the jazz album for people who don't usually listen to jazz.
With 11 CDs to his credit, McCaslin was originally suggested to Bowie by composer Maria Schneider who co-wrote Blackstar's "Sue (Or In A Season Of Crime)." Bowie then went to The 55 Bar in New York City to hear McCaslin perform and loved his set so much, that after much correspondence, he was asked to solo on the track.
McCaslin's originals are in a decidedly Bowie vein. Tracks like "Shake Loose," "Beyond Now," "Bright Abyss," "Faceplant" and "Glory" could've been jams from such Bowie albums as The Next Day (2013), Reality (2003) or even Earthling (1997).
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