First Love in Bloomington, MN

On
First Love
, contemporary jazz saxophonist and composer
Everette Harp
moves deeper into the space he addressed on 2007's excellent
My Inspiration
. Whereas on that album, he was still digging deeply into his own brand of funky jazz, he was also looking for something. His soloing on the album was sharper, brighter, and more complex, but his arrangements and production style were slick enough to get his jams on the radio. On
, it sounds like
Harp
found what he was seeking. In the liners, he mentions some of his heroes like
John Coltrane
and
Dave Brubeck
, and how his first hearing records like
Soultrane
Time Out
made him fall in love with the music. Produced by
George Duke
, this set is one of the most remarkable and thought-provoking recordings to come out of the contemporary jazz genre in ages. The meld of acoustic and electric instruments here is perfectly balanced. Melodic and harmonic structures are much more complex and don't always fit the C-jazz cookie-cutter mold. Check his original
"The Council of Nicea,"
one of the most satisfying things here.
's tenor is accompanied by
James Genus
' acoustic bass, and some spot-on breaks by
Terri Lyne Carrington
, a beautiful bluesy, hard bop trumpet solo by
Michael "Patches" Stewart
, and
Lenny Castro
's hand percussion. Directing the band is
Duke
on Fender Rhodes with help from the exquisite if understated electric guitar work from
Dwight Sills
. The ballad
"Before You Leave"
follows suit with
Carrington
providing elegant brushwork. These are pretty basic straight-ahead numbers. This is not to suggest that there isn't some funky work here, too. Check
's
"Soul Fries"
with
Genus
on electric bass. The funkiness of the Rhodes is smokin' and the blues factor in
's playing with
Stewart
gets a solid groove going behind a tight, sophisticated arrangement.
contributes one more cut to the set, the killer Latin-ized fusion funk of
"Departure."
It's a midtempo ballad, but its knotty bridges and
' electric bass work turn it all inside out. The biggest surprise here, however, is in the beautifully restrained but intensely soulful reading of
Coltrane
"Central Park West."
Here is the place where
's mastery of the tenor horn is on full display with an abundance of warmth and depth. It is an absolutely gorgeous reading of the tune. Given the half-acoustic/half-electric division of the tracks here, the originals are easily the most sophisticated, confident, and masterfully played of
's career thus far, and the covers fit in seamlessly, making this his finest recording to date. ~ Thom Jurek