A spectrum of saxophones - musical contribution of the World Saxophone Quartet

American Visions, August-Sept, 1993 by Paul Baker

A saxophonist's sound is as personal as a set of fingerprints. The instrument, praised for its expressiveness, allows players to communicate their unique life experiences. With the resulting variety, there are CDs to please every listener. Some saxophonists nestle comfortably in the jazz tradition; others play what is best described as free-form, or avant-garde, music.

Among those offering avant-garde music is the World Saxophone Quartet. The CD Metamorphosis (Elektra Nonesuch, 1991) features, along with Arthur Blythe, Hamiet Bluiett, Oliver Lake, and David Murray, three drummers from Senegal. The pairing of saxophone quartet with drum ensemble creates the kind of sparks you'd expect when the musical traditions of two cultures meet head to head. This particular CD offers refreshing acoustics, with no overdubbing.

The mood shifts constantly as the quartet members improvise alone, in duets, and all together. Sometimes they play tightly in meter with the drummers' grooves; sometimes they float relaxed melodic lines over them. The drummers sometimes chant while playing, adding yet another layer of texture. The overall result is a joyous outpouring of sound.

Eric Person's aptly named recording Arrival (Soul Note, 1993) also offers uncompromising, creative music. Person is making his mark as a leader after having performed with Living Colour, Ronald Shannon Jackson, Chico Hamilton, McCoy Tyner and the New York City Symphony. Not surprisingly, he's able to build on the jazz tradition without wallowing in it.

Person's compositions follow recognizable forms, yet open up for improvisation. Some of his tunes seem abstract, and the tonal center, or key, can be more implied than stated. This is not easy-listening pablum; you must listen to his music two or three times to hear everything. Although Person can play "inside the changes" (which is the traditional way of improvising--on the chords that underlie the melody), he screeches righteously for effect. And although his ballads are insightful and haunting, he can crank out the electric funk, too.

Person and his cohorts, despite their relative youth, show maturity in improvising and ensemble playing. Their CD is a promising arrival that bodes well for a successful career.

The forward-looking music of the World Saxophone Quartet and Person isn't the only voice among artists of their generation. Over the past decade some young musicians have chosen to revive the jazz of the 1960s and earlier. (This movement parallels the Dixieland revival of the 1950s, in which musicians and listeners uncomfortable with the creative directions of bebop concentrated on the music they had grown up with in the 1930s.)

Among those exploring classic jazz is Joshua Redman, who favors standard tunes and the big, smooth tenor sax of the 1940s. His CD Joshua Redman (Warner Bros., 1993) offers some originals, but they re-examine past styles. "Groove X," for example, harks back to the 1950s Art Blakey band. Redman's reading of the standard jazz tune "Body and Soul" includes appropriate melodic swoops and glides and Earl Hines piano voicings. Redman also interprets "Salt Peanuts," Thelonious Monk's "Trinkle Tinkle," and an almost comical two-beat version of "Sunny Side of the Street." With a nod to rhythm and blues, he covers James Brown's hit "I Got You (I Feel Good)," which, when played by an acoustic jazz group, sounds a lot like 1960s Ramsey Lewis, from the "In Crowd" days.

Following the success of Wynton Marsalis' successful blues tribute The Majesty of the Blues (Columbia, 1989), brother Branford offers his own take on that heritage with I Heard You Twice the First Time (Columbia, 1992). Highlights on this CD include a tribute to pioneer jazz saxophonist Sidney Bechet ("Rib Tip Johnson"), a portrayal of a chain gang at work ("Berta Berta," complete with chants, grunts and the clank of hammers hitting steel), and singer Linda Hopkins belting out a wickedly funky blues number ("The Road You Choose"; why Branford wrote it in 7/4 meter is unclear, but drummer Benard Purdie makes it cook nevertheless).

As usual on Branford's recordings, the musicianship is superior--soloists shine and the band is tight. You'd rightly expect fireworks from guest musicians B. B. King and John Lee Hooker. Otherwise, the recording as a whole seems weighed down by the presence of didactic Wynton. His message--respect for tradition--overrides the possibilities of the music.

Offering tasteful interpretations of standards and perhaps a deeper personal testimony to the blues heritage is John Handy. On Excursions in Blue (Quartet, 1988), Handy draws on his performance experience with Charles Mingus and Randy Weston. Such training enables him to play a convincing mainstream tenor sax. Not surprisingly, Handy proves himself a master at embellishing melodies, working his magic on "My One and Only Love" and "How Deep Is the Ocean."

But the mood evolves. One can almost see the musicians smiling as they play "Soullesson," a slow bump-and-grind blues nearly dripping in grease. Of the three blues tunes here, "Excursions in Blue" is the least predictable--it's happy and upbeat, and the sophisticated harmonic fabric sounds McCoy Tynerish. If you like boatloads of blues, this one's for you.