Understanding (Wallace Roney album)

Understanding is an album by trumpeter/composer Wallace Roney, recorded in 2012 and released on the HighNote label the following year.^[1]

Understanding
Studio album by Wallace Roney
Released	April 23, 2013
Recorded	June 18 & July 5, 2012
Venue	Samurai Hotel Recording Studio, Astoria, New York
Genre	Jazz
Length	61:33
Label	HighNote HCD 7235
Producer	Wallace Roney
Wallace Roney chronology
Home (2012) Understanding (2013) A Place in Time (2016)

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Financial Times	[3]

AllMusic's Matt Collar said "Understanding, is an expansive, often swinging work that finds the trumpeter digging even deeper into the straight-ahead if no less adventurous sound of his recent releases. These are bluesy, harmonically layered modal songs that bring to mind such touchstones as '70s Woody Shaw and late-'60s Miles Davis".^[2] Financial Times reviewer Mike Hobart stated, "The ex-Miles Davis understudy confirms he is now something of an elder statesman with this sextet recording featuring young unknowns who are full of promise".^[3] In JazzTimes, Michael J. West noted "Roney was a dyed-in-the-wool Young Lion. Understanding, a sextet session and his first all-acoustic album in over a decade, places him back in that context, with (mostly) wondrous results ... Technical virtuosity, dense harmony and zealous swing abound. At its best, melody abounds too".^[4]

Track listing

1. "Understanding" (Roy Brooks) – 6:56
2. "Is That So?" (Duke Pearson) – 5:47
3. "Search for Peace" (McCoy Tyner) – 8:07
4. "Gaslight" (Pearson) – 6:51
5. "Red Lantern" (Arnold Lee) – 7:43
6. "Kotra" (Ben Solomon) – 7:08
7. "Combustible" (Wallace Roney) – 8:21
8. "You Taught My Heart to Sing" (Tyner) – 8:01

Personnel

• Wallace Roney – trumpet
• Arnold Lee – alto saxophone (tracks 2–7)
• Ben Solomon – tenor saxophone (tracks 1, 2 & 4–8)
• Victor Gould (tracks 2, 3 & 5–8), Eden Ladin (tracks 1 & 4) – piano
• Daryl Johns – bass
• Kush Abadey – drums