Giant Step Arts: The First Three Releases

Jimmy Katz has been photographing jazz artists for more than thirty years, and his work has graced hundreds of magazine and CD covers, as well as been collected in four books. He’s also a recording engineer, and he brings all his skills to his latest project, the non-profit Giant Step Arts. Katz writes that he was “interested in supporting the highest level of creativity in ... jazz. Giant Step Arts will give musicians the opportunity to fulfill their dreams with no strings attached.” Katz also emphasizes “that the musicians have total control of their artistic projects.” The label is dedicated to premiere live performances, with their first three releases out now.

       First up is Rhyme And Reason by trumpeter Jason Palmer, with Palmer joined by tenor saxophonist Mark Turner, bassist Matt Brewer, and drummer Kendrick Scott. Recorded live at the Jazz Gallery in New York, Rhyme And Reason finds the band stretching out at length on eight of Palmer’s intricately attractive original compositions. There’s plenty of shared history among the musicians, which leads to a healthy environment for powerful improvising. And that’s what we get, with a bounty of inspired soloing by some of the most creative players around. Palmer and Turner make a exceptional team, with the trumpeter’s fire and personal logic matched by Turner’s usually cooler presence and slippery solo style. At first listen, it felt like nearly every tune seemed to go on to too long, with only Blue Grotto clocking in at under ten minutes. After spending more time with the discs, I’m more attuned to the way the quartet operates on stage. Obviously, a live concert and a studio recording make different demands on players and listeners, and it takes the right attitude and attentiveness to immerse yourself in a club date like this one. Among the many high points over an hour and three quarters of dynamic interplay are Palmer’s dark and adventurous solo on the opening Herbs in a Glass, the trumpeter’s brash unaccompanied introduction to the title song, the entwined melodic lines of bass, trumpet, and tenor on Blue Grotto, the bright funk of The Hampton Inn, Turner’s playful solo on Waltz for Diana, and the rousing solos by Turner and Palmer in the hard-charging Kalispel Bay that closes the show. The peppy and buoyant rhythm team of Brewer and Scott never falters in keeping the music moving along smartly. Katz’s detailed and transparent recording enhances the music, and like the best in-concert documents, puts the listener right in the middle of things. As the cliché goes, it’s the next best thing to being there.

Drummer Johnathan Blake, perhaps best known for his ongoing association with Tom Harrell’s band, has appeared on dozens of albums since his recording debut with Bob Berg in 2001. His third release as a leader is Trion, where he leads a trio at the Jazz Gallery with Chris Potter, sticking to tenor saxophone, and Linda May Han Oh on bass. Blake starts off the first disc with a two-minute drum solo before the trio gleefully dissects Sting’s Synchronicity 1 with a gruffly authoritative Potter leading the charge. Bassist Oh takes a powerful and moving solo as well, leading into Potter and Blake trading phrases with utter abandon. It’s a deeply involving performance, and that’s from someone who never could stand listening to The Police. The supremely melodic Oh takes center stage with an extended introduction to her own Trope. The song has a tricky theme, arranged as a delicate dance of bass and saxophone with Blake’s understated drums in support. Potter’s part is a tour de force of modern tenor playing, and Oh responds with another vigorous display of her prowess and formidable technique. The late bassist Charles Fambrough wrote One for Honor, and it first appeared on McCoy Tyner’s Horizon (1979). Here the appealing theme receives a high-spirited treatment, featuring more electrifying tenor work by Potter over furious swing from Blake’s drums and Oh’s testifying bass line. A pair of Blake originals concludes the first disc. High School Daze is a mid-tempo blues with a backbeat. Potter, who manages to sound at home in just about any musical environment, is really in his element with this pace and feeling. Oh is no slouch either, with a busy and spicy solo after Potter’s opening spot. She has the relatively rare bassist’s knack of constructing extended solos that maintain interest and never lose the pulse. No Bebop Daddy also features a potent bass solo, with Blake keeping up the pulse. A loose and bluesy Potter even sneaks a little bebop in at the end of his sax solo. Like the first disc, part two starts out with a few minutes of solo drums to set the stage. Two originals by Potter come next. Good Hope is the occasion for some deft triangulation with Oh’s throbbing bass, Blake’s assertive drums, and Potter’s angular saxophone lines in a friendly competition for the spotlight. My attention settled on the lightning fast interactions of the trio as they build this dynamic performance over 11 minutes. The first half of Eagle features a long melodic statement by Potter, shadowed by Oh’s complimentary bass line. Oh takes over for a characteristically involving solo before Potter returns with rough and tumble closing statement. Relaxin’ at Camarillo is a Charlie Parker tune, first recorded for Dial in 1947, which makes it by far the oldest tune in the set. The trio takes it out for a spin, and uncovers plenty of life left in this venerable blues. The calm Blue Heart was composed by Blake’s father, violinist John Blake, who passed away in 2014. This previously unrecorded tune gets a suitably respectful and emotional treatment from the trio. Johnathan Blake’s West Berkley St. ends the second disc with a bit of funky fun.
Trion presents a well-selected and sequenced program, highly effective soloing and the instantaneous interplay of a truly unified trio. Unreservedly recommended.

Over the course of more than forty albums as leader, saxophonist Eric Alexander has played with many piano masters, including frequent dates with such luminaries as Harold Mabern, John Hicks, David Hazeltine, and Mike LeDonne. But I could only find one instance, the 2016 Venus release Just One Of Those Things, in a trio format with just bass and drums. Leap Of Faith, drawn from two nights at the Jazz Gallery, reprises the piano-less trio with Doug Weiss on bass and Johnathan Blake on drums. The immensely fluent and imaginative Alexander seems set on exploring the freer aspects of the hard bop sound that he’s known for. Dispensing with a chordal instrument is a way for him to open up the music. Penning a new batch of tunes and working with two musicians that he has little history with contribute mightily to his new direction. Alexander says that he has “always incorporated bits and pieces of what people might consider the avant-garde into what I do, so this was just a matter of letting that take over.” Brawny and totally self-assured, Alexander takes off into the stratosphere on a quick-tempoed swinger like Mars, egged on by Weiss’ busy bass lines and Blake’s steady rolling drums and splashy cymbals. The two fairly short pieces, Corazon Perdido with a little taste of Alexander on piano, and Magyar, a trifle adapted from music by Bartók, don’t do much for me, but that leaves plenty of fine music. Standouts include the aptly named Hard Blues, with some ferocious tenor work, the smoothly evocative ballad Big Richard, the electrifying Frenzy, previously recorded by One For All and on Alexander’s Second Impression CD, and that album’s title track, a jumping blues which closes the disc with some intense Coltrane-inspired blowing. You think you know Eric Alexander’s playing? Take a Leap Of Faith and discover fresh aspects of his musicianship. Recommended.
Palmer: Giant Step Arts GSA001; Jason Palmer (tpt) Mark Turner (ts) Matt Brewer (b) Kendrick Scott (d); NYC, June 7-8, 2018; Disc 1 (47:34): Herbs in a Glass/ Rhyme and Reason/ Blue Grotto/ Sadhana. Disc 2 (58:39): The Hampton Inn (for Alan)/ Mark’s Place/ Waltz for Diana/ Kalispel Bay.
Blake: Giant Step Arts GSA002; Chris Potter (ts) Linda May Han Oh (b) Johnathan Blake (d); NYC, January 21-22, 2018; Disc 1 (61:47): Calodendrum/ Synchronicity 1/ Trope (Linda intro)/ Trope/ One for Honor/ High School Daze/ No Bebop Daddy. Disc 2 (51:21): Bedrum/ Good Hope/ Eagle/ Relaxin’ at Camarillo/ Blue Heart/ West Berkley St.
Alexander: Giant Step Arts GSA003; Eric Alexander (ts; p on *) Doug Weiss (b) Johnathan Blake (d); NYC, May 8 & August 7, 2018; Luquitas/ Mars/ Corazon Perdido*/ Hard Blues/ Frenzy/ Big Richard/ Magyar/ Second Impression; 57:15. www.giantsteparts.org