Stephen Riley - Easy to Remember

Steeplechase 31609

Points of reference are always convenient crutches in the context of music reviews. In a piece on Inside Out, saxophonist Stephen Riley’s Steeplechase debut, I name dropped like crazy, roping in Lucky Thompson, Ben Webster, Paul Gonsalves and others in an attempt to pinpoint his richly nuanced sound. All of those comparisons still stand on this second outing, but a new correlate springs to mind as well. Imagine Warne Marsh gigging in a trio setting with Wilbur Ware and Shelley Manne. Sound inviting? Well, it’s the sort of fictional all-star merger evoked upon hearing Riley in collaboration with bassist Neal Caine and drummer Jason Marsalis. Riley’s recondite rhythmic and harmonic sense echoes Marsh’s singularity though he’s not as prone to shaving off melodies and interpolating new ones. Caine’s sideways pizzicato saunter recalls the enigmatic Monk sideman through staggered stops and a plump reverberant tone. Moments occur when the resemblance is uncanny, but it still never feels slavish or felonious. Marsalis mirrors Manne through a relaxed, but springy touch with both sticks and brushes. His playing isn’t flashy or aggressive and centers instead on getting his part of the job done.

Easy to Remember isn’t just a tune in the set. It’s also a clever play on the provenance of the program, a collection of standards that aren’t as common as some in the canon, but still familiar enough for Riley to playfully poke them apart and remain reasonably sure that roots will still be perceivable. The title piece rolls out at an easy lope, Riley reaching for maximum rasp against the elastic throb of Caine’s strings. Marsalis sets up a light spray of cymbals punctuated by press rolls and the piece moves into a series of subtle exchanges between feathery tenor and drums. A ten-minute, highly danceable version of Bird’s “Big Foot” swings like mad. Riley draws his tenor lines in smudge-edged ribbons, leisurely riding the propulsive support of his partners without telegraphing too much of his route in advance. Marsalis and Caine annex the middle for a lively dialogue that once again calls down the spirits of the elders named above. Riley colors his reentry with all sorts of creative register maneuverings ranging from high wire to underwater in aural cast. On a dreamy “What’s New?” he takes the reed rasp to almost comical extremes, sliding through the theme as Caine and Marsalis trace a snail trail rhythm beneath him.

“The Sheik of Araby” and “Over the Rainbow” are successfully divested of all corny connotations and Riley takes his sweet time with both. Caine’s trampoline snaps on the latter piece perfectly accentuate the optimism at the song’s core while Marsalis does his part to keep the neighborly feeling strong via magnanimous brush play. “Araby” highlights Riley’s soprano in tandem with Caine, in an improvisation that carries some of Lacy’s inspiring insouciance and piquancy of pitch. They repeat the feat on “Yesterdays”, this time with the leader exercising tenor. Given the consistent quality of the session, it’s hard not to pine for a future meeting between Riley and a certain other Stephen, one answering to the surname Gauci.

[Steeplechase titles are available directly through Stateside Distributors: Stateside AT prodigy.net]

~ Derek Taylor