CD Review: Borrowed Time - Jazz Guitarist Steve Khan

by Tom Watson.

June 5, 2007, marks the United States and Europe release of Borrowed Time (Tiempo Prestado), a strongly Latin rhythm influenced CD from jazz guitarist Steve Khan, licensed for U.S. distribution by the Tone Center label of Shrapnel Records Group and distributed in Europe by ESC Records. The title debuted in Japan on April 25 from 55 Records. While the new CD includes one track (McCoy Tyner's "Blues for Ball") recorded during the session that gave rise to Khan's 2005 release, The Green Field, Borrowed Time is much more than a continuation of Green Field - it's a substantial expansion that's been heavily influenced by key musicians in the New York Puerto Rican salsa scene.

Summer's approaching. The jazz/smooth jazz titles filling the mailbox have a perky sunshine mood (though a dash of perk might be a year-round smooth jazz ingredient). For an indoor hermit, summer music is a breath of fresh air, but for an indoor hermit with cynical ears, most of it reads like public pool music droning through metal horn speakers.

Borrowed Time arrived a few weeks ago and has sat at the top of the pile since. The cover art is eye-catching - summery yet thoughtful, a work by Jean-Michel Folon titled "Un Monde". Steve Khan has a thing for the late Folon's artwork, and why shouldn't he - it's at the same time accessible and thought provoking. Nice when thinking is by invitation and optional.

In Europe and Japan, the cover art is also by Folon, but a different piece that reflects the "time" theme in its use of clocks.

But, it's not the artwork that keeps Khan's CD on top. Over the past six months or so I've spent quality time on www.stevekhan.com reading Khan's fine analyzes of various jazz standards like Kenny Burrell's "Stompin' at the Savoy", Wes Montgomery's "Twisted Blues", Robben Ford's solo to the Coltrane classic "Naima" (Shapes, The Big Picture), and Miles' solo on "So What", and following Khan's accompanying transcriptions while listening to these classics. You'll find this delight in the Khan's Korner 1 area of the site (Khan's Korner 2 contains similar information about several Steve Khan pieces). Highly recommended.

It's Memorial Day in the States, which has no significance in this farming village in northern Portugal where I live, but the fact still gives me that summer kick-off feel. Rain's stopped, kids are out of the house, and no one's sending email. Perfect day for a Khan CD listen without having to, well, borrow the time.

What does summer mean, the pleasure of it? Growing up in the Midwest, pleasure came at night when heat and humidity backed off and a breeze inspired movement. The still-thick air became sensual. Brain off, heart and hormones on. Chilled wine and jazz made cotton dresses sway.

Borrowed Time could be my Summer of '07 album, at least certainly one of them. It's musical seduction at its finest. Khan and crew are heavy hitters (core personnel include John Patitucci, acoustic bass, and Jack DeJohnette, drums), but the jazz elements aren't heavy handed - like the cover art, brain engagement to closely follow harmonic and rhythmic development is optional and invitational, which also means additional pleasures unfold on subsequent listens.

The nine tracks are a potpourri: "I Mean You" (Thelonious Monk-Coleman Hawkins); "Mr. and Mrs. People" (Ornette Coleman); "Face Value" (Steve Khan); "El Faquir" (Steve Khan); "You're My Girl" (Sammy Cahn-Jules Styne); "Blues for Ball" (McCoy Tyner); "Have You Met Miss Jones?" (Rogers-Hart); "Luna y Arena" (Moon and Sand) (Wilder-Engvick-Palitz); and, "Hymn Song", another McCoy Tyner tune, all united by consistent ensemble playing centered on tempo...rhythm...time.

While it's usually the element of time that keeps an ensemble assembled, it's also usual to hear them use time as nothing more than a referee, a boundary marker, the container for a bunch of notes. At first glance, the album title, Borrowed Time, seemed ominous, something we all live on but would like to forget, but a few minutes into the first track, "I Mean You", I get a different perspective.

On one level, the music does in fact borrow time by drawing on rhythmic styles and grooves from several sources, most notably Latin flavors with a dash of Middle Eastern. Consider this lineup of additional players (and here's where that summertime invitation to swaying really comes into play): Ralph Irizarry (timbal); Roberto Quintero (conga and percussion); Manolo Badrena (percussion); Marc Quiñones (timbal, güiro, maracas); Bobby Allende (conga and bongo); Badal Roy (tabla); and, Geeta Roy (tamboura).

These players would be enough to raise a pulse on "Mary Had a Little Lamb", but, there's another level of time borrowing going on here, with Steve Khan at the center, that makes the CD even more engaging: his use of lines and chords to expand or contract the tempo, as when Khan uses a single note (or chord) run that both develops a motif and pushes or pulls the beat. Remember the bass lines of an extended James Brown song and how they sometimes slightly anticipated the beat, or retarded it, and by so doing added a dash of magic to the rhythm? Now, imagine doing that on Latin-style rhythms with their own set of complexities and liberalities, and doing it in such a way that it's noticed not so much by what's heard, but by what's felt. Khan's guitar playing on Borrowed Time is an excellent example of the fine art of ensemble work - his lines simultaneously speak for themselves and, through his rhythmic sense and lush, lingering tone, often direct the tempo's ebb and flow.

Still not convinced? Then let me tell you about a few more pleasures on Borrowed Time: appearances by Randy Brecker (the CD, by the way, is dedicated to the memory of Randy's brother, Michael Brecker, Khan's friend of 37 years) on flügelhorn (three tracks); Bob Mintzer on bass clarinet ("El Faquir"); Rob Mounsey on keyboards (two tracks) Gabriela Anders, vocal on "Luna y Arena"; and, Rubén Rodríguez on Baby Bass and 5-string electric bass (three tracks).

In terms of compositions, Khan's keeping good company with the likes of Ornette Coleman, Tyner, and Steve's father, Sammy Cahn, but it's Khan's original, "El Faquir", that steals the show with its tasty blend of elements from North, South, East and West. Also doesn't hurt that this is the track on which Bob Mintzer, Badal Roy and Geeta Roy appear. Imagine the tabla and tamboura of the Roys grooving with DeJohnette on drums, Irizarry on timbal, Badrena on percussion, and Quintero on güiro and maracas.

Which isn't to say the other Khan original, "Face Value", isn't note-worthy. "Face Value" brings in Rob Mounsey (who, like Steve Khan, has worked with Steely Dan) and features excellent contributions from Brecker (Mounsey and Brecker also appear on a later track, "Have You Met Miss Jones", which, together with "Face Value" was intended by Khan as a tribute to composer, arranger, and mulit-instrumentalist Clare Fischer). Guitarists will enjoy Khan's switch to a steel string Martin MC-28 on this bolero at about 4:30 and his touch, tone, and vibrato on the acoustic (on "Have You Met Miss Jones" and "Luna y Arena" he employs a nylon string Yamaha APX 10-N with an equally good sense of touch and attack). "Face Value" would be rich material for a big band or orchestral arrangement.

Steve Khan is a literate musician (with a fine cast of literate musicians) who appreciates the affect sound and rhythm have on our not-so-literate body and soul. Borrowed Time cuts a pleasure path from eyes to ears to body to brain, in that order. Climb out of the pool. Press play. Engage. Sway. Cool down and heat up.

Related Link
Borrowed Time on Amazon.com

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