Joan Hutton & Sue Orfield: Take That Back

Joan Hutton and Sue Orfield's Take that Back opens with the smooth dark chocolate crooning of Hutton's bass clarinet. The tune is "Dirty Secret," a Hutton-penned, mid-tempo gem. And initially what comes to mind is (Bennie Maupin and Eric Dolphy aside) how rarely we hear the bass clarinet on a jazz album. Then Orfield's tenor sax enters and interweaves lines with Hutton's, and the pairing of sounds presented with the two reeds and the piano, bass and drums rhythm team is something special indeed.

Hutton and Orfield are versatile artists, with roots in classical, jazz, funk and free improv. Both compose terrific tunes—five of those on Take That Back are from Hutton's pen, five from Orfield's. A modern jazz feeling pervades, in the Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock frame of mind, or the Oliver Nelson and Eric Dolphy mode. Both artists solo beautifully, and there is a sense that they could take the band into free territory, although they never quite go there. "That It Would Not Hurt You," composed by Orfield, carries a laid back yet ebullient Latin tinge, while "My Six," Hutton's tune, sounds like something that could be arranged for a big band. There are some gorgeous reed harmonies here, with Ted Godbout's sparkling electric piano work bringing Miles Davis' early inclusions of Fender Rhodes to his sound.

"Heading North" brims with optimism: "Steezy" features a soulful tenor solo over a relentless rhythm, and "Curtains," the closer, is another tune that—with its unison reed work— seems ripe for a larger ensemble treatment, sounding here like a late '60's Motown studio band taking a break and doing some kick back music of their own.