Dwayne Clemons: Center of Gravity: Live at Smalls

On Center of Gravity, veteran trumpeter Dwayne Clemons displays his astuteness and savvy in a generally impressive session recorded in September 2023 at Smalls Jazz Club in New York City, leading a sextet in which he shares the front line with alto saxophonist Amanda Sedgwick and tenor Aaron Johnson.

This is a colorful and broad-shouldered date wherein everyone more than pulls his (or her) weight, with the horns adeptly supported from end to end by pianist Jinjoo Yoo, bassist Paul Gill and drummer Taro Okamoto. Clemons, in fact, is so generous when assigning blowing space that it would be hard to guess he was the group's foreman if his name and photo weren't on the cover. In this case, the division of labor proves wise and pragmatic, as Sedgwick, Johnson and Yoo are stellar soloists in their own right whose voices are rarely less than discerning and meaningful.

As for the playlist, it is neatly divided between well-drawn standards and promising originals, with a pair of Sedgwick's orderly charts complementing others by Barry Harris, J.J. Johnson and Thelonious Monk. Sedgwick wrote the concert's melodious title song and bop-linked "Shadow and Act," Harris the rhythmic curtain-raiser, "Burgundy," Monk the quirky "Hornin' In," Johnson the rapid-fire "Hey George" (a.k.a. "Sweet Georgia Brown"). Fats Waller's "Honeysuckle Rose" and Johnny Green's "I Cover the Waterfront" are included with the evergreens "Sweet Emmalina, My Gal," "Smoke Rings" (on which an unlisted clarinet, that of either Sedgwick or Johnson, is especially welcome) and the warhorse "When I Grow Too Old to Dream" (taken as a pleasant foxtrot complete with group vocal).

If there is a downside, it is that the final seventeen-plus minutes of the seventy-three minute enterprise are, relatively speaking, more reserved than robust. Aside from that, there is not much to censure as Clemons and his teammates deftly take care of business. An aside: as there is no audience response or applause following any number, it must be presumed that "Live at Smalls" means exactly that.

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