Tom Keenlyside: Third Street Wobble

Tom Keenlyside, a saxophonist from Vancouver, British Columbia, who has performed in his native Canada and around the world with a who's who of jazz and pop musicians, leads an impressive quintet on Third Street Wobble, his seventh recording as a leader or member of various groups, on many of which his flute has been in the foreground.

Keenlyside stays with the tenor saxophone here, sharing front-line duties with trumpeter Brad Turner in a group whose other able members are guitarist Tristan Paxton, organist Chris Gestrin and drummer Joe Poole. Besides playing rock-solid tenor, Keenlyside composed and arranged seven of the album's nine generally affable tunes (Gestrin wrote the New Orleans-flavored "Gumboot Gumbo," Turner the upbeat "Glass Slipper," one of the session's high spots, as is Keenlyside's sturdy and fast-paced "Red Herring").

"Red Herring" leads to the session's closing number, "Tuesday at the Galata Tower," which is less than a step or so behind that essay and "Glass Slipper" on the satisfaction scale. By then, an amiable groove has been nurtured, starting with the easygoing title song and continuing through Keenlyside's sauntering "Times Like These" and picturesque "Note to Self" before sampling "Gumboot Gumbo," then checking out Keenlyside's spunky "Fables of Festus" and Turner's "Glass Slipper." Another gently-walking Keenlyside original, "Bunky," precedes "Red Herring" and "Galata Tower."

As is true with most groups this size, everyone can solo more than once. Keenlyside, as noted, is sharp and secure at every turn, while Turner, Gestrin and Paxton ad-lib with fluency and finesse, and Poole has a handful of dazzling sorties. Despite its shaky name, Third Street Wobble never trembles or wavers as Keenlyside and his mates keep their shoulders to the wheel and eyes on the ball throughout a cozy and admirable fifty-five-minute studio session.