On the tenor saxophone,
J.D. Allen
is becoming a musician without peer as he continually refines his phrasings and voicings. To his credit, he's taking the lessons taught to all tenor players by
Coleman Hawkins
,
Sonny Rollins
, and
John Coltrane
, developing his own personal brand of modern mainstream and progressive jazz. Like
Rollins
, he's adopted the pianoless trio here, again joining rising star bassist
Gregg August
and emerging young drummer
Rudy Royston
on this follow-up to the recording
I Am I Am
to make mercurial, liquid, and lithe original music. The trio plays jazz that is diverse within concise structured parameters, with only two selections over five minutes. The title track is serene, soulful, and patient,
"Angel"
is an easy blues/swing with no histrionics,
"Se'Lah"
a soul ballad with calming null spaces, and
"Ephraim"
is spatial and spiritual in a no-time concept. The group and
Allen
ramp it up for the drum bashing and sax honking to free and hard bopping
"Esre!,"
go into a solid
-esque churning bop for
"Marco Polo"
that is short and to the point, cop the
calypso groove dance style on a very hip
"Sonhouse,"
and eschew soulful
Ornette Coleman
-like lines with
August
's bass interludes during
"Teo."
More like
Coltrane
on the flowing
"The Laughing Bell"
and hard bopping
"Variation,"
and his band know exactly when to lay back or charge hard. Though the leader composed this program, there is one track penned by
Butch Morris
"Conjuration of Angels,"
where
's strummed bass and the light rolling rhythms from
Royston
keep the pot simmering. This is a unique project in that
has tapped into many sources, but is not beholden to any one, and he deserves credit for taking chances instead of offering a homogenized approach. It is also perhaps one of the first CD's to not offer written liner notes (authored by
Ben Waltzer
) on the booklet, but instead has included them embedded in the disc, accessible if you possess PDF capability on your PC or Mac unit. (P.S.: this session was recorded on the 11th of May and November -- wonder why?) ~ Michael G. Nastos