Steeplechase Jam Session, Volume 12

Steeplechase 31567

Question: what’s better than a two-tenor team-up? Well, a tenor troika, of course. Three-pronged tenor trade-offs are scarcer than their tandem counterparts, but the results can be often even more excitement-prone if the chemistry clicks. Some of my favorites include: Tenor Conclave (Von Freeman, Buck Hill & Teddy Edwards), Soul Battle (Oliver Nelson, King Curtis & Jimmy Forrest) and A Blowing Session (Griffin, Coltrane and Mobley). This new Steeplechase set, which conveniently brings the label’s Jam Session series to an even dozen, is gradually slipping into a coveted spot on the above list and lies firmly ensconced in the same lineage.

The game plan here is a simple one. Tap two of the label’s most prominent post-hardbop tenors- Rich Perry and Larry Schneider- and add a wild card in the personage of Soviet saxophone celebrity Igor Butman to their already promising tête-à-tête. Steeplechase house pianist Andy LaVerne (who now has over forty dates to his name) leads the rhythm section and supplies the arrangements. Bassist Steve LaSpina and drummer Billy Drummond, also longstanding peacock feathers in the Danish label’s cap, complete the package. Neither man seems the least bit bothered by the strictly supportive role assigned him. Solo space resides solely with the horns and LaVerne until the fireworks of the final track.

Wayne Shorter’s “Witch Hunt” weighs in as the first of seven tracks. All are standards, save a grand finale scripted by LaVerne. With the unorthodox reading of Kenny Dorham’s “Blue Bossa,” the three horns reverse their solo order starting with Butman’s buttery vibrato-iced extrapolations and moving on through the statements of Perry and Schneider as the three explore the composition at a slower almost somber tempo than common. The pliable nature of LaVerne’s arrangements as each man is allowed to steer the band in whatever direction he chooses in relation to pace and mood. Lest listeners peg them in terms of tone and phrasing all three men evince chameleonic powers across solos, though the argots of Shorter and Trane are the most consistently referenced. The variability leads to a playful game of impersonation foiled by the traycard’s printed schematic of pecking positions.

Breaking from the typical decorum of a jam, each of the saxophonist’s also has his own brief solitary feature on a medley of three evergreen ballads. Schneider steps up first with “These Foolish Things” followed in short order by Perry’s rendering of “Once in a While” and Butman’s tender take on “When I Fall In Love.” At roughly two minutes a piece they’re refreshingly concise distillations that contrast well with the longer-form safaris endemic to the other tracks. LaVerne’s “Good To Go” caps the session off. At sixteen plus minutes of energy-riddled blowing it serves as the ideal sort of burner to punch out with and offers one of the most viscerally-charged sections of the entire set. In the closing minutes piano and bass drop out leaving Drummond to tussle athletically with the horns in various combinations, each taunting the other to increasingly heated heights.

~ Derek Taylor