Live it up

It's Deja Vu for Fareed Haque

by Mark Edmonds

When Blue Note announced last fall that some of its young lions were going to work on a series of three instrumental tribute/cover discs based on seminal works by Bob Marley, soul icon Marvin Gaye, and Woodstock-era immortals Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, tongues began wagging in the jazz community. Fans and critics alike made predictions as to what the end products would sound like. Some forecasted re-invention on a grand scale, while others dismissed the concept, saying it was the label's latest marketing-department pet project.

It seems both sides are at least partially right. One disc, by San Francisco eight-string guitarist Charlie Hunter, is a re-do of Marley's 1974 barnburner Natty Dread that's little more than a series of bland experiments in straight-ahead post-war jazz. (It's surprisingly bereft of any Jamaican influences.) Another disc by saxman and Kenny G clone Everette Harp tiptoes through the framework of Gaye's 1971 classic What's Goin' On like it is afraid of stepping on something with some soul to it.

Only one, by Chicago guitarist Fareed Haque, who plays Gilreins on June 22, manages to escape throwaway status. For his installment, the 33-year-old bandleader drew the chance to remake CSNY's 1970 flower-power folk-rock classic, Déjà Vu. And remake it he did in a marvelous fashion. Throughout its 14 tracks, Haque and a handful of sideplayers take the album's well-known songs to new heights in a Miles-meets-Grateful Dead-style musical exploration while managing to keep each song familiar enough as to not lose us.

"One of my major concerns was whether or not they wanted elevator music because if they did, I'm not the guy," Haque says during a break from his work at Northern Illinois University, where he's an associate professor of jazz and classical guitar studies. "But I was told that they definitely wanted me to do my thing, and that's exactly what I did. And, you could say, we also stretched it a little bit."

While charting the rough outlines with fellow guitarist Dave Onderdonk, Haque decided to leave each song's structure essentially the same way it appeared on the original album. He and the nucleus of his touring group -- Onderdonk, bassist Johnathan Paul, and drummer Joe Bianco -- then added slight variations in time signatures and rhythms.

The results are impressive. Steven Stills's "Carry On" and Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock" come through as fresh and inventive jams, funky and danceable, while others including Graham Nash's "Teach Your Children," David Crosby's "Almost Cut My Hair," and the disc's title cut are updates that pay tribute CSNY's songwriting skills.

You almost wonder what the result might have been if CSNY were tighter musicians. Or jazz players. Striking out on "Carry," Haque leads his outfit through its straight-ahead framework, adding embellishments that build in intensity with each turnaround until the group segue into the song's bridge. From there, everyone jumps into a Latin-tinged hyper-groove powered by Bianco, who pounds out a nasty double-time ride as Paul slips over his fretboard with hands that seem dipped in axle grease. Guest keyboardist Ron Perillo repeatedly calls up the song's chorus on a Rhodes piano, while Haque freely sprinkles fusillades of electronically shaped wah-wah notes over the mix. The whole piece is hard to listen to without wanting to get up and move.

A small army of additional sideplayers add embellishments with some rather unique percussion effects, including shaker bells, congas, and a manta ray skin drum, which on "Hair" mistakenly gives the impression that your speakers are blown.

While he worked on the project, Haque says he became impressed with CSNY's earthy sophistication. "Despite their un-schooled approach to composing music, they managed to come up with some really cool harmonies. The way they approached music using alternate tunings and such was all very cool. And it was very easy for us then to take that and modify it for a jazz approach."

And those modifications have worked well with audiences. "At one show recently, I had this one fella about 20-years-old with tattoos on his arms and another about 55, who both said they really dug what we were doing," he says. "They had an open mind to music and, generally speaking, anyone who does is going to like what we're doing."

Fareed Haque Quartet play Gilreins at 9 p.m. on June 22. Call 791-2583.