Randy Hoexter: Tomorrowsville

Several words spring to mind when listening to the music of Atlanta-based composer, arranger and pianist Randy Hoexter. Colorful is one, wide-ranging is another. Not to mention creative, robust and well-ordered. Each of those traits and more are deftly combined in Hoexter's latest album, Tomorrowsville, on which he leads a high-grade ensemble through its paces on eleven of his intriguing themes and charts.

What is clear from the outset is that Hoexter is a talented and earnest craftsman and that expressive rhythms are the order of the day, from the opening "Rosetta Stone" (originally written as a piano etude and adapted here for a seven-or eight-piece group with five horns out front) to the radiant finale, "In Bright October," whose score was written to educe the deep blue skies of autumn as it unfolds like chapters in a book. "October" features the ensemble's main soloist, Sam Skelton, on soprano sax. An exception to the session's exuberant temper is the mellow "Phosphenes," an atmospheric work on which Skelton's tenor sax is most prominent, as it is on "Particle Accelerator," "Tomorrowsville" and the album's lone vocal track, "The Wine-Dark Sea," nicely sung by Roberta Setzu.

Hoexter's other engaging tunes are the groove-centered "Dragonfly," rock-based "Argentum" (an ardent salute to pianist Horace Silver), Afro-rhythmic "Diaspora," the brief piano interlude "Sonate" and chorale-like "Evening Comes Early," a warm tribute to fellow musicians who have left the scene far too early including Michael Brecker, Jaco Pastorius, Don Grolnick and Lyle Mays. Aside from Skelton and Hoexter—whose bold and articulate piano brightens center stage on several numbers—other soloists who make their presence felt are guitarist Mike Stern, drummer John David, bassist Jimmy Haslip and trumpeter Gordon Vernick. The versatile Skelton offers an acrobatic flute solo on "Diaspora," while David, Haslip, Hoexter and percussionist Emrah Kotan form a rock-solid rhythm section.

This is a far-better-than-average small-group session whose virtuosic leader came to the studio with an impressive game plan and arranged its success with the commitment and care of a surgeon. Tomorrowsville is a charming destination that is well worth one's time and study.