| Item Summary | Resourceful Illery is an apt title for this album. In observing the Pseudo Intellectuals - comprising Tone @tlas, Nick Zero, and DJ Cutler- in their element on Wednesday nights at Tone's Lyndale Avenue abode, where the beats, tracks, and scratches herein were laid down in the DiGesare living room, it is clear to this writer that resourcefulness is in abundance. Rudy Van Gelder's Englewood Cliffs, NJ recording studio it is not (nor his earlier incarnation in Hackensack, for it is doubtful Mr. Van Gelder used his mantel for a mic stand like Tone does), but that does not prevent the illery from flowing, much like the pints of hoppy beer that serve as the catalyst for these epic occasions, producing a relaxed atmosphere where one ismore likely to witness the group watching a DVR'd Sabres game or Nick playing Halo 3 than observe what looks like any serious 'work' going on. Yet invariably the work does get done (even if this happens well after midnight, when Nick, more than a few beers deep, might be heard repeatedly screaming 'DJ Cutler, DJ Cutler, DJ Cutler' in Charles MIngus fashyion to a passed out Cut prior to spitting out another just-composed verse), the outcome of which is alway ill, and that is a tribut to the Pseudo Intellectuals resourcefullness.
Take a listen, then. You'll hear the resourceful use of Tone's kids (better than employing an over-priced, third-rate, freelance singer) utterly simplistially profound truths like: "...when we put our ideas together they become really good ideas" and "'More Money, More Problems'. That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." You'll hear the ill use of jazz masters like Ellington, Mingus, Tolliver, Mobley, Henderson (Joe, not Fletcher), Konitz, Mulligan, and Buffalo's own Dodo Greene in Tone's Beats. You'll hear the impressive rapping debut of DJ Cutler, who enlightens with the lines, "Keep jazz on wooden shelves, and wooden shelves on cinder blocks. Resourceful got a course load of that style from my pops" and gives a discourse on an evening at The Anchor Bar listening to the incomparable Jimmy Gomes & The Jazz Example. And most of all, you'll hear plenty of what is lacking in lots of music today, perhaps because attempts to deploy it often comes off as contrived: the concept of having fun, the foundation here, but listen to the callo and response between Tone and Nick on "If on a Winter's Night a Rapper' and you will most certainly agree that fun is being had. With that said, enjoy the references, rhymes, and rhythms that is Resourceful Illery, but first, a final word. At the record's inception, Tone's daughter Bella declares, "Resourceful Illery. We don't even know what it means, but the Bell has good ideas." By now you should have some idea of what the Pseudo Intellectuals' concept of Resourceful Illery is all about. For further dissemination of this idea though, it is encouraged to give this album repeated listens. Of course, at this stage of the proceedings, this writer is merely stating the obvious. Peace to all the Jazz Dorks out there. -Max The Greek. | | Front: | Back: |  |  |
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