Rafael Enciso: Crossfade

On Crossfade, his debut recording as leader, bassist Rafael Enciso wrests as much rhythmic and harmonic mileage as possible from what is basically a quartet date, using tenor saxphonist Dayna Stephens to add color and depth to one of his ten original compositions, organist Jahari Stampley to amplify two others.

Elsewhere, Enciso and his companions paint with broad musical strokes, breathing life into his impressions of a "Waterfall," "Solstice," "Skipping Stones" and "Whirlpool," the last showcasing Enciso's resonant acoustic bass, as does the album's picturesque closing number, "Lennox Avenue." Enciso is aided and abetted there, as he is on every track, by alto saxophonist Nicola Caminiti, pianist Gabriel Chakarji and drummer Miguel Marcel Russell.

The album's title refers to Enciso's fascination with seasonal cycles and societal patterns, many of which overlap in strange and unexpected ways; benchmarks he seeks to incorporate into his music. He does so by writing descriptive melodies with shifting moods and tempos and letting the quartet have its way with them. The first is the seductive "High Priestess," the second "Photogenic Memory," whose lyrical theme is underscored by Caminiti and Chakarji, with Enciso adding perceptive statements of his own.

Stephens appends his agile and assertive tenor to the shuffling "Austin Otto," which includes a convincing solo by Russell and leads to the sinuous "Stick Your Neck Out" and Stampley's first appearance, on "Thousand Yard Stare," whose peaceful aura is accentuated by Enciso and Caminiti. "Waterfall" opens in an equally placid vein before accelerating the tempo and raising the heat to underscore Caminiti's spicy alto. "Solstice" is mostly calm and collected, "Skipping Stones" a carefree playground for Caminiti's savvy alto and Charkaji's nimble keyboard. Enciso takes the lead on "Whirlpool" and "Lennox Avenue," showing his ingenuity and command on both numbers.

Crossfade marks an impressive entrance into the ranks of jazz pacesetters by bassist Enciso, not yet 30 years old but already an award-winning musician with an impressive album under his belt. From his vantage point, the future looks bright indeed.