Danny Kamins / Vinny Golia / Garrett Wingfield: The Ojai Sessions

Long before Bob Dorough sang about it in Schoolhouse Rock, and before the hip hop group De La Soul took up the anthem, three has always been a magic number. To the Buddhists it is the three jewels, for the Christians the Holy Trinity, the three core principles of Islam, and on and on. Maybe that is what makes the three saxophones of The Ojai Sessions a magic release.

This 2018 session from California features the spontaneous creations of three improvising musicians. Vinny Golia is a veteran of the creative wars with hundreds of sessions recorded with dozens of different saxophones, from the tiny soprillo to the mighty contrabass, plus various clarinets and gongs. Here he swaps between sopranino, soprano, baritone, and bass saxophones. His bandmates include Garrett Wingfield and Danny Kamins. Wingfield is a member of the quartet Off Cell, the small large ensemble The Octopod, and the Ptyx Trio. He maintains a taste for chamber jazz and avant/punk rock. Likewise, Kamins explores everything from modern jazz to doom metal when he isn't directing the jazz program at Rice University.

The musicians wield an array of horns to create varying freely improvised schemes. "Part I" opens with simple breaths; the trio's muted sounds tiptoe in with puffs of air, hesitant circular sounds, and the quietest of upper register explorations. The sound develops and grows into a freely improvised chamber recital that gains a swirling momentum. As the players change out saxophones, Kamins plays alto and baritone while Wingfield alto, tenor, and baritone, the moods alter. The bass and baritone saxophones are the destination of "Part VII," with the trio melding voices as a choir, one that aims to reverberate in your chest cavity. In between "Part I" and "Part VII," the improvisations are diverse, engaging and ultimately a satisfying number from the three.