Steve Kaldestad: Live at Frankie's Jazz Club

A Port Moody, British Columbia-based tenor saxophonist and educator at Capilano University, Steve Kaldestad is one of the most in-demand musicians in the Canadian jazz scene and Live at Frankie's Jazz Club is his fourth album on the Cellar Live label. Like most musicians affected by the pandemic, working during these trying times has been limited and cherished when possible. Inspired by the compliments and praise received after a previous performance at Frankie's Jazz Club in Vancouver, BC, the saxophonist jumped at the opportunity to document, as he states, "The urgency and gratitude emanating from the quartet."

For this live recording, Kaldestad teams up with a cast of well-seasoned veterans which include Vancouver native and staple of the Canadian jazz setting, pianist Chris Gestrin along with classically-trained bassist Conrad Good and rounding out the quartet, Cory Weeds staple and much sought-after drummer Jesse Cahill.

One peek at the tunes on the album is more than enough to assure that the music one is about to hear is going to be a blast of straight-ahead jazz with the eleven-minute opener, Harold Mabern standard "A Few Miles from Memphis," affirming that. Delivering delicious solos from the leader and members of the group, Horace Silver's "Barbara" is another one of many swinging moments. Ditto for the following Kaldestad original "Equestrian Interlude."

While presenting well-known familiar standards in new light is always a challenge, Kaldestad and the band prove worthy here with fresh treatments of Dizzy Gillespie's well-travelled "Con Alma and the Tadd Dameron immortal "If You Could See Me Now," a beautiful ballad where the leader plays to the heart.

Closing the session on the original "Garden Hand Blues," and the oft-recorded Cedar Walton standard "Bolivia," Live at Frankie's Jazz Club is a stellar recording from Steve Kaldestad and group. This performance is reminiscent of, and recalls, the kind of incredible music often heard at the old Cory Weeds' Cellar Jazz Club in Kitsilano, Vancouver. Though now closed for good, the tradition established there seems to be alive and well on the stage at Frankie's.