Jed Levy: Faces and Places

This is a beautiful album that is fired up right from the start. The sound of the tenor is faintly reminiscent of Warne Marsh. There is no seeking after angularity. Jed Levy's way with melody is completely natural and integrated into the quintet, though there are surprises all the way through the improvisations.

Jed Levy is not just a tenor player, his compositions have vivacity and a clear structure and, occasionally, an impish charm. The tuneful magic is conjured from the commonplace. Levy has an impressive past and an imposing presence. He has played with Jaki Byard, organists Jack McDuff and Don Patterson, jam band funk with drummer Mike Clark and Charlie Hunter, Chico O'Farrill and with the Cab Calloway Orchestra. Here, he has produced a 12-track album that is particularly satisfying.

If you love the beauty of jazz, you will find much to enjoy here. There is something very, very satisfying about hearing a player who is achieving exactly what they want to accomplish. Each track has an individual shape that intrigues. In some ways, Levy is a rare performer. He plays without ego and with an overwhelming honesty. He has listened to a great deal of jazz, played hours of jazz, absorbed it, loved it and is able to filter it through his own mind and experience.

"Danza de Berrios" has a Latin jazz rhythm, with pianist Luis Perdomo tied with the tenor all the way. The attractive melody inspires improvisation from the pianist. who sustains the rhythm throughout his solo. The zesty, percussive drive of Alvester Garnett is important here because the melody is never far away.

"Calcata" is another fine melody. There is no hairshirt improvisation, lyricism wins all the time.. Perdomo has a perceptive solo, where he chooses notes carefully over Peter Slavov's bass. The feeling that all the members of the group are enjoying the structural beauty of the melodies is inescapable.

The piano and tenor are locked tightly together in "Twiddle Twaddle," and the relief of breaking away is clear when Perdomo is released for his solo. Levy's solo flies freely. Levy's tunes are not just there to be a springboard for improvisation, they are beautiful in themselves. The drum breaks add additional vitality.

Levy explains that he has always had a fantasy to visit the island of "Tenerife." Geographically, it is a long way from Sonny Rollins' Caribbean "St Thomas," but in spirit it is close. The percussive rhythm backed by Garnett's drums is inviting. Perdomo accepts the challenge and unveils a solo that is full of the sunshine that Levy imagines on his island.

If one could translate Levy's music into words, they would not shout, they would be humorous. They would not bore, they would intrigue. Their sincerity would beguile, leading forward to what he plays next, what else he has to say.

Why do the words honesty and integrity keep coming to mind in listening to the album? Levy is a great player and this album shows his improvising skills in the round, all laced with his ability as a composer. The album is a hymn to all the musicians across the clubs and, in Levy's case, across continents, who are producing jazz—night after night— that is full of inherent, deeply musical, engrossing, pleasurable sounds.

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