Saxophones A'Plenty (Part Two) – Three Quartets

This post features three quartets led by tenor saxophonists who double on other reeds, two that  have the same type of lineup –– saxophone, piano, bass, and drums (same drummer on both albums) –– and one that substitutes guitar for piano.

Photo: Dave Stapleton

Chris Potter signed with Edition Records in 2019 and each one of his five releases show a different side.  Last year's "Got the Keys to the Kingdom" was recorded live at The Village Vanguard and featured Potter with Craig Taborn (piano), Scott Colley (bass), and Marcus Gilmore (drums).  His latest album, "Eagle's Point", is also a quartet date but with a totally different lineup –– Brad Mehldau (piano), John Patitucci (bass), and Brian Blade (drums). Just seeing those names should be enough to make one purchase the album or, at the very least, listen to it.  You should because it's good music and great fun.

"Dream of Home" gently opens the eight-song program but as soon as the leader begins to solo, the proceedings heat up. The bassist and drummer spent two+ decades with Wayne Shorter's last Quartet and they absolutely know how to support, how to push the soloists, and how much to add.  Patitucci's handsome bass opening (such a lovely tone!) leads the band into "Cloud Message". Potter's tenor playing so assured, his notes so articulate even as he flies through a solo. Throughout the album, Mehldau not only plays with authority (is that Bud Powell showing through on his solos) but also his comping is so delightfully post-bop.  Listen below to the title track –– the music is playful, slightly funky (check out the song's chorus), and the rhythm section is so "tight yet loose".  

Photo montage: Dave Stapleton

Among the the highlights is the African-influenced tune "Indigo IIdiko" which finds the leader on bass clarinet. There's such a melodious feel to Potter's tone as well as splendid solos by Patitucci and Mehldau with the latter reminding this listener of Keith Jarrett's work with the Charles Lloyd Quartet.  Potter switches to tenor sax for his solo which moves the piece more towards the mainstream.  "Aria for Anna" finds Potter on soprano sax where his lovely tone is perfect for the ballad where the only other instrument for 2/3rds of the song is the piano.  Mehldau, one of the best at painting pictures through melody, is the perfect match for the leader's soaring solo. It's easy to miss the bass and drums when they enter but they add just the right colors.

The album closes with "Horizon Dance", a piece with rhythms that incorporate South American influences.  The bassist is at his best here interacting with the saxophonist, playing off his riffs while the drummer gleefully dances. Mehldau keeps up the heat with his own spicy solo. Blade gets a moment to "strut his stuff" before the Quartet returns to the opening theme to close the program.

"Eagle's Point" is yet another feather in the expansive cap that is the career of Chris Potter. The majority of the music and musicianship exudes joy with nary a false note.  Listen up! Good music is infectious.

For more information, go to www.chrispottermusic.com/. To purchase the album, go to  https://chrispotterjazz.bandcamp.com/album/eagles-point. 

Here's the title track:

I am a long-time fan of the music of Charles Lloyd; he rarely disappoints with his music. While I receive many recordings to review from publicists, Blue Note releases rarely show up so I buy them. Once I heard tracks from Mr. Lloyd's new album, there was no way I could ignore the music.  The 15-song, 91-minute album, features a quartet with veteran Jason Moran (piano), Larry Grenadier (bass), and newcomer Brian Blade (drums) 

"The Sky Will Be There Tomorrow" is the 86-year old Lloyd's 51st album and first studio date since 2017.  He's always favored the quartet setting although he's been more adventurous with lineups since joining Blue Note nearly a decade ago. The energy that emanates from this recording is powerfully positive whether the music is meditative (as on the opening "Defiant, Tender Warrior" or the ballad "The Ghost of Lady Day"), fiery (as on the tenor-piano take of "Lift Every Voice and Sing" where the duo take the piece "out" is a flurry of Gospel chords) or rhythmically adventurous (as on the flute-driven "Booker's Garden" and the playful "Monk's Dance"). Listen below to the last track listed in the previous sentence. After a powerfully rollicking intro by Moran, the rest of the band enters and the piece takes off.  Blade certainly can swing while Grenadier is both melodic and pulsating.

One should listen to this album in its entirety each time. There are so many masterful moments.  The fire that Mr. Lloyd creates in his sparring with Blade and then Moran on the opening several minutes of the title track is one as is the piano solo on the same track. The beauty and open feeling of "Balm in Gilead" is lovely as is the long, exploratory, gentle "Cape to Cairo" near the close of Side 4 or disc 2.  

By the time you reach the final track, "Defiant Reprise; Homeward Dove", the music should have changed you. Here are four master musicians led by a person who moved from his hometown, Memphis TN, to Los Angeles in 1956, starting a career that has spanned nearly seven decades, a musician who has recorded numerous standout recordings with musicians from around the world.  Listen closely, listen deeply –– the rewards are endless!

For more information, go to https://charleslloyd.com/.  The link to his music is there as well as his 2024 tour schedule and more.

Here's "Monk's Dance":

Photo: William Brown

Saxophonist and composer Dayna Stephens has a new Quartet and a new album.  Since his 2015 kidney transplant, Stephens has issued five albums as a leader, a fusion album underneath the name of Pluto Juice, and appeared as a sideman on numerous albums including releases by Linda May Han Oh, Johannes Wallman, Massimo Biolcati, and Ethan Iverson & the Umbria Jazz Orchestra (among others).  It's easy to understand why he's so popular as his sound on tenor is full but never over-blown, his soprano playing is melodic and not shrill, and his ever-maturing work on EWI humanizes the electronic instrument.

For his new "working" ensemble, the atmospheric sounds of young guitarist Emmanuel Michael (born in South Dakota to Ugandan and South Sudanese parents) stand out alongside the rhythm section of Kanoa Mendenhall (bass), and Jongkuk Kim (drums). Stephens first met the guitarist in 2022 when Michael was a student at Manhattan School of Music and a member of his ensemble. This ensemble went into a New York City studio in May of 2023 and recorded "Closer Than You Think", Stephens' first album for Cory Weeds Cellar Live Records.  It's Michael's sweet guitar one hears first as it leads the band in on his composition  "Bubbly".  Listen below to how easily the rhythm section creates a flow for the leader's tenor sax and the guitar.  This is one of several times on the 11-song program that this music is reminiscent of the collaboration of Charles Lloyd with guitarist John Abercrombie.  

Photo: William Brown

Like Mr. Lloyd, this music often has an "open" feel.  The way that Ms. Mendenhall and Kim move under the music allows both the leader and guitarist to go on lengthy solo journeys.  "The Nomad" (the first of three pieces composed by Stephens) is a delightful sonic experience –– just sit back and get lost in the music. "Scrutiny" (another of Stephens' pieces) is more frenetic pushed hard by Kim's powerful drumming.  Wayne Shorter's "E.S.P." adds producer Jeremy Pelt's trumpet to the Quartet. The funky undertow allows the soloists to move freely around the melody with Michael's guitar work raising the temperature of the music.  The guitarist's other composition, "Placate", may remind some of songs by Bill Frisell, especially the work he created alongside Joe Lovano and the late Paul Motian –– Stephens' solo has a gentle quality as it moves effortlessly over the rhythm section and guitar counterpoint.

Near the close of the program, the band plays pianist Julian Shore's gentle bossa-nova "Back Home".  It's here that the leader switches to EWI; before his enchanting solo, bassist Mendenhall creates a melodic solo of his own with Michael's finger-picked acoustic guitar moving dancing beneath him.  The program ends with "Placate (reprise)", first a duet for guitar and bass, closing with Stephens' tenor leading the way to a gentle finish.

The more I listen to "Closer Than We Think", the more I enjoy the interactions of the quartet, the breadth of the material (including pieces by pianist David Berkman and Ms. Mendenhall's appealing "Te" with the leader on soprano sax), and how it's easy to fall under its spell.  Dayna Stephens continues his growth as a musician and interpreter as well as very good judge of talent.  Get lost in these grooves – you will better for the adventure!

 

For more information, go to www.daynastephens.net/. To hear more and to buy the album, go to  https://daynastephens.bandcamp.com/album/closer-than-we-think. 

Here's the opening track, "Bubbly":