Wallace Roney: Becoming Part of the Whole

The hush on stage at Joe's Pub was circumvented with the squeal of brass. It's piercing shrill evolved into a cacophony of instruments screaming, wailing, writhing, throbbing, breaching the silence with a language and tonality that took on a musical expression all its own. It had an intelligence that created and recreated itself while giving order to chaos. The Wallace Roney Band was playing pure jazz. They were playing the songs within their new CD Mystikal.

And indeed, an aura of the mystical was apparent as the music struck upon the essence of form without form in search of the enigma that is true jazz. The blissful faces of the musicians were enraptured by some musical high that elevated their souls beyond time. Harmonies emerged touching levels of vibrations too high to be discerned by mind, understood only at the heart level. As the melodies, harmonies and vibrations crescendo and converged without restraint, it was reborn and sought to be free. Once released, it merely stopped, leaving behind the power of its expression with all in the room. This was the music of Wallace Roney.

There is no doubt that Miles Davis influenced Wallace Roney. In fact, Miles was Roney's mentor. While some may say that Mr. Roney is an imitator, I would say, not so. While there is certainly an essence of Miles in Roney's music, the trumpeter has managed to carve out his own nitch keeping Miles alive through his trumpet while remaining true to his own considerable talents.

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