July 2002

From the Inside Out
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By Chris M. Slawecki

There’s a wise old saying that good things come in threes. There’s the red, white and blue, for example. There’s Curly, Larry and Moe. Writers generally include three examples when demonstrating a point.

This familiar expression is also proven true by recent releases from three of today’s best jazz saxophone players.

Wayne Shorter: Footprints Live! (Verve)
Footprints Live! is the first album from Shorter since 1994, his first all-acoustic album since 1967, and his first ever live recording, so it’s a pretty major event. It swings like a heavyweight’s left hook -- and let’s face it, there are very few heavyweights left like Shorter, a veteran of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, a founding member of Weather Report, and Miles’ main foil in Davis’ second great Quintet.

As momentously as it swings, as Shorter breathes fire like a saxophone dragon, Footprints simultaneously instructs what an accomplished composer Shorter is and how important to the jazz canon his compositions are. Allowing for his revisit to “Valse Triste,” based on an excerpt from a symphony by Sibelius which Shorter first explored on a 1965 recording, every song is a Shorter original, including the Grammy-winning “Aung San Suu Kyi” (from his duet album 1 + 1 (Verve) with Herbie Hancock) and “Footprints,” “Sanctuary” and “Masquelero,” each a staple in Miles Davis’ repertoire while Shorter was engaged from 1964 to ’70.

Shorter sounds simply fearless, galloping uninhibited. He explores each idea exhaustively and mightily, like his contemporaries Coltrane and Rollins, afforded the freedom by a rhythm section that’s the epitome of economy and grace: Danilo Perez on piano, drummer Brian Blade and bassist John Patitucci. Perez, Shorter and Blade seem to telepathically navigate "Aung Sun Suu Kyi," with Perez ably filling Hancock’s chair while Blade swirls ‘round and in between the conversation of their duet. This is often treacherous musical territory, not without the occasional rockslide, but with such majestic summits.

In “Masquelero,” Perez’ piano lines tumble headlong down the stairs that Shorter’s riffs and Blade’s hammer construct, all building toward a crescendo that sets the crowd to roaring! Shorter blows directly at Blade to close this ten-minute version of “JuJu,” enticing them both to rock the beat hard with staccato phrases, bringing down the house and this set to a close.

Though it’s a comment about expectation and not execution, one thing does bear mention: Folks who through repeated listening have worn through their copies of the Davis quintet versions of “Footprints” and “Sanctuary” will need to adjust to Shorter’s new quartet versions. There are a few brief moments where it seems perfect for the trumpet player to jump in…and of course no one does.

Eric Alexander: Summit Meeting (Milestone)
The title and leadoff track -- truly inspired playing by Alexander on tenor sax, smartly supported by his familiar rhythm section plus a hot guest spot by trumpeter Nicholas Payton -- tells all you need to know about this Summit. Alexander’s program of jazz standards, pop standards, and originals, worked out with his longtime rhythm section of Joe Farnsworth (drums), John Webber (bass) and Harold Mabern (piano), does not break any new ground but does return the feel and sound of classic mainstream and hard bop jazz.

Summit marks Alexander’s first recording with Payton, though the two played together in the band for the 1999 Jazz at the Philharmonic tribute tour. On each track where he is a featured soloist (four tracks of nine), Payton shines brilliantly on flugelhorn and trumpet. These four tunes sound like simply classic blue and ballad bop, opening with sweet yet tart melodies splashed with Horace Silver’s “Spanish tinge” and then romping in finger-poppin’ rhythms which throw open wide the gates to bustling playgrounds of colorful solos. This is particularly true of “A House Is Not A Home,” the first of two masterfully programmed Burt Bacharach / Hal David tunes, and “Andre’s Turn,” an Alexander original which Payton blows through like a hurricane named Freddie Hubbard.

As for the remaining (quartet) tunes: That Spanish tinge, courtesy of pianist Mabern and drummer Farnsworth, swivel-hips the rhythm in the second movement of “The Sweetest Sounds,” from Richard Rodgers’ 1962 musical No Strings. Though Mabern “Sounds” somewhat heavy-handed here, playing too many notes too often, he goes a long way toward redemption with his more reticent mid-song solo in “A House,” which effortlessly segues into “This Girl’s In Love With You.” This second Bacharach / David ballad -- not saccharine but as solid and beautiful as an expertly crafted and polished dark walnut antique -- is for Alexander to shine, as his hugely warm and soft sound echoes with Ben Webster and other great tenor balladeers. A shimmering reading of Coltrane’s vibrant and lush “After the Rain” ends this solid set.

Yaya3: Yaya3 (Loma)
This eponymous debut may seem like your typical one-off supergroup release but the surprising instrumental trio of drummer Blade, saxophonist Joshua Redman on tenor and soprano, and Hammond keyboardist Sam Yahel, is actually the culmination of their years of playing together in various combinations with each other and with other musicians. Blade, for example, previously appeared on Redman’s Freedom In The Groove and on Yahel’s In the Blink of an Eye. The band name is a mutation of an unfortunate nickname for Yahel plus the number representing a trio.

(In 1991, Eric Alexander finished second in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition -- to Joshua Redman.)

Saxophone trios don’t often dispense with the bass player, and Yaya3 benefits from its rather unique sound. Without a bass or guitar or second horn, the instrumental lineup allows Blade, Yahel and Redman to explore freedom AND the groove. Just as if not more importantly, the three play very well together, demonstrating musical interplay that seems nearly telepathic and a level of sensitivity and detail that is beautiful. Though they work with completely different instruments and styles, Yaya3 is almost like listening to the group Oregon except with be-bop, saxophone and Hammond B-3 replacing Oregon’s acoustic world music and strings.

“Slow Orbit” and “The Scribe” (both by Yahel) point down the path to straight-up bop, though they’re so adventurous that they maybe don’t quite make it all the way there. Yahel plays Hammond not in the slammingly soulful Jimmy Smith / “Groove” Holmes style, but more meditative and spacious and using more tonal colors than just standard-issue bebop blue He plays most conventionally in “One More Once,” another of his own tunes, digging and laying down the harmonic and melodic foundation.

But it’s two Blade compositions of a single piece, and Redman’s deep and powerful playing on them, that prove most resonant. Redman’s choice of soprano is just perfect for the almost hymnal air of Blade’s “The Spirit Lives On” and “Confronting Our Fears,” each with a melody that modulates upward, constantly striving like a prayer sent heavenward (and almost like Coltrane in its sense of profound reverence). Redman also contributes his own “Switchblade” and the oblique “Two Remember, One Forgets.”

Like good artisans, Yahel and Redman choose just the right tool for the right job: When Redman brandishes his tenor, Yahel makes the organ sound like the traditional automatic B-3 funk machine, but when Redman ethereally glides through the prayers on soprano, Yahel makes the organ sound more like the instrument often heard in Sunday morning church.