The power, passion, spirituality and beauty that have been the hallmarks of the music of Pharoah Sanders throughout his nearly 50-year career were in full flower as the great tenor saxophonist held forth at Birdland (Apr. 8th) leading his fiery working quartet. Sanders opened the night's first show with a moving rubato reading of John Coltrane's "Welcome" that set the tone for the evening. His horn's dark luxuriant tone called out to the composer in his own distinctive voice over William Henderson's rumbling piano, Nat Reeves' droning arco bass and the malleted toms of drummer Joe Farnsworth, creating a pensive trancelike atmosphere that faded quietly and then erupted into the rhythm section's bright melodic introduction to an extended rendition of "My Favorite Things." Featuring exciting solos from each band member, Farnsworth took the last turn with an amazing virtuosic display that ushered in the return of the leader who, after reprising the melody, concluded the song in his inimitable fashion by taking the sax from his mouth and having the horn seem miraculously to play itself. As the mystical sound dissolved into silence Sanders broke the spell with a shrieking introduction to his "You've Got To Have Freedom" that soon had the audience joining in with his rhythmic handclapping. The set's surprise song was the rarely heard "Villa," which the group swung tastily before taking things out with the leader's classic "The Creator Has A Master Plan."

Papo Vazquez
Dweck Center for Contemporary Culture
Brookly, NY
April 1, 2010

Following the success of recent commissioned pieces for large ensembles at Jazz At Lincoln Center's Rose Theater in Manhattan and Teatro Pregones in the Bronx, Papo Vazquez brought his Pirates Troubadours to Brooklyn to take part in the 11th Annual Central Brooklyn Jazz Festival with a free concert at the Public Library's Dweck Center for Contemporary Culture (Apr. 1st). The trombonist/composer led his band of powerful players through a set of mostly originals that blended jazz improvisation and AfroCaribbean rhythms, including bombas and plenas reflecting his Puerto Rican heritage. Opening dramatically with a bullhorn fanfare over Richie Flores' congas, Vazquez conducted his band—featuring longtime colleague, saxophonist Willie Williams and the versatile rhythm section of pianist Zaccai Curtis, bassist Dezron Douglas and drummer Alvester Garnett, with Anthony Carillo on bongo and additional percussion—through a wildly cacophonous prelude into his soulful swinger "Reverend." The bomba "Enemy Within" and plena "Sol Tropical" both highlighted Vazquez' considerable skills as a composer and arranger able to merge traditional rhythms with modern harmonies and personal melodic concepts while the Cuban son "Juan Jose" that separated the two illustrated a new way with that classic form. The modernistic "Manga Langa" and Middle Eastern-tinged "Oasis" that closed the set showed Vazquez prepared to take Latin Jazz into the future.

—Russ Musto

Recommended New Listening:

Anat Cohen—Clarinetwork: Live at the Village Vanguard (Anzic)
Jorrit Dijkstra—Pillow Circles (Clean Feed)
Yusef Lateef & Adam Rudolph—Towards the Unknown (Meta)
Olivier Manchon—Orchestre de Chambre Miniature ­ Volume 1 (Obliqsound)
Wallace Roney—If Only for One Night (HighNote)
Ralph Towner & Paolo Fresu—Chiaroscuro (ECM)

—David Adler NY@Night Columnist, AllAboutJazz.com

Geri Allen—Flying Toward The Sound (Motéma Music)
Carolyn Hume/Paul May—Come to Nothing (Leo)
José James/Jef Neve—For All We Know (Impulse!)
Dave Liebman/Evan Parker/Tony Bianco—Relevance (Red Toucan)
Ben Monder/Bill McHenry—Bloom (Sunnyside)
RED Trio—Eponymous (Clean Feed)

—Laurence Donohue-Greene Managing Editor, AllAboutJazz-New York

Tommy Babin's Benzene—Your Body is Your Prison (Drip Audio)
Jeremiah Cymerman—Under a Blue Green Sky (Porter)
Fight the Big Bull—All is Gladness in the Kingdom (Clean Feed)
noZen—Live! au Upstairs (Malasartesmusique)
OM—Willisau (Intakt)
Zeno de Rossi/Simone Massaron/Pacho/Giorgio Pacorig/Massimo Pupillo—Jusi in the Wine House (Long Song Records)

—Andrey Henkin Editorial Director, AllAboutJazz-New York

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