Avi Granite 6: Operator

Guitarist Avi Granite—in the company of his brash band Avi Granite 6—opens his Operator with "Crushing Beans," displaying a big bad attitude. The drums are explosive, the horns belt it out, the bass shakes the walls and Granite slashes and burns. The first impression is: "This must be a great live band." And indeed, the studio appointment to record Operator came when the group was fresh from a tour. They brought the bandstand energy with them.

"Voracious" is more measured than the opener. The sextet—three horns and rhythm section—does some nice unison cooking, and Granite's solo is concise and tangy, leading into a segment of the sax, trumpet and trombone rolling together into a slalom game in front of a sludgy rhythm.

Throughout the leadership role is obvious; the guitar does not nestle itself down in the mix, but rather takes its turns out front.

"My Sunken Ship" speaks to love lost, a wistful hope for a return of what once was. "Ubiquitous Miles' rambles along with with some fine interplay on the part of the horns, and Granite displays some constrained muscularity on his solo spot.

A group of strong tunes, all penned by Granite, explores with an adventurous flair a broad array of moods, mostly in a "shout it out" mode. "Good Deal" encourages dancing, a smooth cha-cha or a modified mambo, perhaps, and "Many Bowls," the closer, has the band improvising "on visual structures and written stimuli." It comes off as a sort of focused freedom, nicely wrapping up a strong effort.

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