Eric Person: Extra Pressure

Curating the elders while clearing his own path, there is an urgent, blue ease to alto and soprano sax man Eric Person's resonance. As a matter of fact, there is a blue urgency to all of Person's compositions: His wiry lines have stories to tell and tell them he does, with a soulful urban sovereignty. Witness "Fallout," the second of the nine Person-penned that shape both the last and latest go-rounds for Extra Pressure.

What is so cool about Extra Pressure is that Person (a former member of World Saxophone Quartet and Chico Hamilton alum—hot off two years with the Dave Holland Quartet (Dream of the Elders, ECM, 1996)—pianist John Esposito, bassist Carlos Henderson, and drummer E.J. Strickland bide their time and set their pace. So the title track leaves its mark, like a vintage Blue Note session. "Personal Blues," co-written with Esposito, is expressed by a high-flying horn unafraid of heights. "This Devotion" has all anyone can want from a quartet this mindful of the music it is in the hour of making. Bop, blues, swing. All pulsing with St. Louis, Chicago, and New York.

Originally released in 1999 on Distinction Records, this 25th incarnation of Extra Pressure may be short one track ("Plummet") from its source, but that first glow energy, and more importantly, the vibe, stays squarely intact. Not sure any one of us can pinpoint exactly what we were doing 25 years ago, but fortunately, Person, a force on the Hudson Valley jazz circuit and compatriot in the arts, certainly does. "The pursuit," he quotes in the liner notes, "continues." Extra Pressure proves it.