The Fred Hess Band - How 'Bout Now

Tapestry

Much virtual ink has spilled and evaporated here at Bagatellen concerning the vitality and importance of regional jazz scenes. In the States, New York and Chicago are only two obvious epicenters for the music. Pockets of industrious activity presumably exist in all corners of the Union. Oregon has Rich Halley. Cleveland claims Ernie Krivda. Colorado is fortunate to have Fred Hess in residence. The saxophonist has been quietly and diplomatically releasing music for the better part of three decades, most recently on the local Tapestry imprint. How ‘Bout Now follows up on Crossed Paths from 2005 with a studio set list that rivals and, in some respects, surpasses its predecessor.

Several changes separate the new album from the last one. For one, Hess’s quartet is now designated a “band” thanks to the addition of altoist Mark Harris. The other ensemble chairs hold the same occupants with cool-toned cornetist Ron Miles, bassist Ken Filiano and drummer Matt Wilson collectively making the superlative “formidable” seem like an understatement. On the personal front, Hess got hitched and a centerpiece of the program is a three-part suite dedicated to his bride Susan. The music is constructed from the same pigeon-hole resistant habiliments as past outings. Hess has never been one to limit himself to a single stylistic bag, compositionally or on his breathy, porously toned horn. The presence of Harris in the frontline opens up fresh contrapuntal contours for his writing. Heads that were treacherous to begin with gain even more kinks and crenellations. As in the past, Filiano and Wilson jibe exceptionally as a team, the former adding a rounded and resounding elastic snap to many of the tracks while the latter colors and propels the action with a nuanced touch.

Punchy, freeboppish pieces like the title track and “Scarlett’s Dance” pivot on the improvisatory agility available in abundance, stressing tight telegraphing ensemble interplay over extended individual spotlights. Third stream harmonies on the tender “Song For Susan” sound through composed. “Finding the Evidence” works off a thinly masked Monkish motif. Later pieces like the Filiano feature “Opposites Attract,” and the martial-metered “B.Quick” further diversify the playing field. The texture-oriented free improv of “The Clef’s Ski Vacation,” the latest installment in the Clef family narrative that has served as a unifying element to the last several of Hess’s Tapestry efforts, wears out its welcome across an over-long seven-minute span, but it’s an anomalous miscalculation on an album otherwise populated with near-perfect math.

From photos and correspondence, Hess strikes me as the sort of person who stresses a congenial and self-effacing outlook both on an off the bandstand. His good-natured mien makes his music even more appealing and it is a mindset that seems increasingly uncommon these days with certain musicians and critics continually staking cocky claim to their tiny pieces of the creative improvised music pie. The edifying benefits of such a healthy perspective toward life and art are accessible all over this disc.

~ Derek Taylor