Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Jeff Lederer: Sunwatcher

384

Jeff Lederer: Sunwatcher

By

View read count
Jeff Lederer: Sunwatcher
Sunwatchers is a most auspicious debut by saxophonist Jeff Lederer. The reed man chose to reanimate the spirit of Albert Ayler for this session, and along with Ayler's ghost came that of late-John Coltrane spirituality and experimentation.

Lederer can been heard as the saxophone behind the creative bands of Ted Kooshian's cartoon and TV show music and drummer Matt Wilson's newest quartet. Playing on Wilson's That's Gonna Leave A Mark (Palmetto, 2009), he is the yang to saxophonist Andrew D'Angelo's, well, yang.

Here, he returns the favor, employing Wilson at the drums, plus Jamie Saft at the keyboard and Buster Williams on bass. Opening with his personal tribute to Ayler, "Albert's Sun," his tenor hails Ayler's sound with a fierce love cry. Playing with some jaw-dropping extended technique, he soars from deep tenor to whistling high notes before Saft follows, dancing along the new thing's edge of fidgety notes.

What flows from the opener is Ayler's immediate family, as Lederer summons his best Pharoah Sanders for his "Turiyasangitananda," a devotional piece that's a tribute to Alice Coltrane, and the sanctified sound of gospel heard on Duke Pearson's bluesy "Cristo Redentor" and "Snake In The Blackberry Patch," where Lederer massages his soprano into a dervish bliss. Paul Bley's mini-ballad, "Albert's Love Theme," shifts into a bit of introspection, as Saft guides the saxophonist's inward prayer into the atmosphere.

This disc comes full circle, tying Alyer's prophecy with the African-American church on the traditional "Break Bread Together," grabbing equal parts jazz and blues with this old-timey revival.

Track Listing

Albert's Sun; Cristo Redentor; Arnold Schoenberg's Son; Snake In The Blackberry Patch; Albert's Love Theme; Arshawsky; Break Bread Together; Turiyasangitananda.

Personnel

Jeff Lederer
woodwinds

Jeff Lederer: tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, clarinet; Jamie Saft: piano, organ; Buster Williams: bass; Matt Wilson: drums.

Album information

Title: Sunwatcher | Year Released: 2011 | Record Label: Jazzheads

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.