Jay Rattman: In the Towns

Jay Rattman may not exactly be a household name to some jazz listeners and saxophone hounds. Perhaps he should be. Busy, literate, and creative, Rattman is that rare player who makes one think. In a juxtaposition of styles, genres, and horns, New York-based Rattman, could be accused of what was termed "formalism" in the good old days of Josef Stalin and the USSR. Formalism, some brave soul observed, sotto voce, was music not immediately understood upon first hearing. And so it is here. One might say, "Who knew John Coltrane (or Phil Woods) could come out in just that way?" Or that someone could take a tune from the late 1920s and make it sound mournfully modern? Rattman can and does.

In The Towns looks as if its graphics were lifted, appropriately enough, from the cover of The New Yorker magazine. The tunes might suit "The Talk of the Town," starting with "The Melody Lingers On." Is that a C-melody sax bubbling up from an Ornettish unconscious? Whatever. It sounds good, especially with a lingering piano line embroidering in parallel at the close. In "The Towns" opens things, Coltrane-style, moving forward in a slow two, in a minor mood, a "Favorite Things" in a distorting mirror. "No Pancake So Thin" (what a title) just streams along, sinuously, with a piano solo which might have suited the original "Giant Steps," but sounds not at all like it, with a reflective double bass interlude, pizzicato, where arco might have spoiled the mood. "Late for Supper," a clarinet feature in three, sings away fluently, as Buddy DeFranco may have done, down to his licks, but not derivatively so. "Lonesome Shorty" is twelve bars of misery. Will someone find that blue piano a friend, like now?

There is, all told, a full hour of very good music here, including an ode to Rattman's youthful stomping grounds "Water Gap Tune" where a lot of music clearly passed into his ears. The recording is a mix of traditional forms, modern harmonies, varied instrumentation, and the creative soulfulness of Rattman's compositions. Different, a little offbeat, and worth listening to carefully. One should not be scared of the titles though. Especially "The Title of This Song May be Long," which is really a lovely, reflective, and deeply thoughtful meditation on life in America. The music may, in some sense, be a little different, but its tuneful sensibility is familiar to listeners of good jazz. And this is good jazz indeed.