Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Chris Clark Quintet: Cedar Wisely

6

Chris Clark Quintet: Cedar Wisely

By

View read count
Track review of "Inside the Gloves"

Chris Clark Quintet: Cedar Wisely
This quintet was assembled for the recording of this album by young saxophonist Chris Clark, incorporating the talents of veteran saxophonist Peter Epstein who is also the department head for the University of Nevada, Reno where Clark also studied. With his debut effort as a leader, Clark enacts a concentrated focus on the compositional aspects, and largely executes a bottom-up mode of operations, instilled with mood-evoking themes, spanning multiple musical influences. The bulk of the program is based on probing motifs amid intermittent sequences that sport climactic build-ups.

"Inside the Gloves" is the most impacting piece on the album along with apparent nods to Ornette Coleman, primarily from a rhythmic design perspective. Here, the band soars into hyper-mode, spurred by drummer Jesus Vega's spunky and highly energized pulse, as pianist David Ake encircles the primary theme via cascading lines and a loosely formulated bop approach. The plot intensifies as Clark flirts with the freer realm, tinted by a soulful outline and brazen line of attack. Vega stretches out and brings the unit back to the buoyant, storyline for the finale. Indeed, Clark parlays a great deal of promise throughout this ardent engagement, perhaps signaling that the best is yet to come.

Personnel

Chris Clark: tenor saxophone; Peter Epstein: alto and soprano saxophones; David Ake: piano; Zack Teran: bass; Jesus Vega: drums.

Album information

Title: Cedar Wisely | Year Released: 2013 | Record Label: Songlines Recordings

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

Near

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.