Anthony Ortega - Afternoon in Paris

hatOLOGY 643

Originally nicknamed Batman for his jet black coiffure and preference for sunglasses and dark attire, altoist Anthony Ortega also resembles his comic book sobriquet in certain less tangible ways. He's mainly stuck to the shadows throughout his half-century career, contributing to countless studio sessions and gigging with giants within and without the jazz sphere. Author Art Lange posits that his horns grace more albums than his West Coast contemporaries like Art Pepper and Bud Shank, a bold claim, but believable given the circumstances. Ortega also echoes the comparison in his sound: a dry, but not desiccated tone and a delivery that often mimics the flutter of bat wings.

The precursor for this new Hat collection is Ortega's pivotal mid-60s date, New Dance, a forward-thinking series of duets with bassist Chuck Domanico that took the pioneering work by Dolphy and Mingus in galvanizing new directions for the pairing. There's no danger of Afternoon in Paris unseating that classic, but there's still something to savor in the intimate dynamically-rich, dialogues. This time out, Ortega's traveling companion is Bay-area based cellist Kash Killion, a musician also known for stellar work in less than prominently visible settings whose past colleagues have included Horace Tapscott, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra among a host of others. I'm most familiar with Killion from his work with Paul Murphy and Marco Eneidi on the drummer's Shadows Intersections West for Cadence Jazz. As evidenced on that free jazz date, he's capable of generating exciting energy and density on his higher-tuned instrument. Here, playing bass on four out of the five pieces on which he's featured, he sounds less comfortable, the heavier gauge strings and Ortega's often rumination-oriented mood requiring him to scale back the energy. Ortega, on the other hand, sings with sagacious single-mindedness through is reed, turning in skillful work on flute and piano in other places. Their flute and cello discussion on a lengthy "I'll Remember April" is a highlight and brings to mind the classic Dolphy conclave with bassist Chuck Israels, "Hi-Fly".

The disc also includes four solo pieces, taped nearly three years earlier via video camera. Despite the somewhat granulated fidelity, these tracks out-maneuver the duos. I hear something of Lacy in the way Ortega parcels and reorganizes a melodic line, and the pithy choice of two Monk tunes further solidifies the kinship. The disc concludes with an extant outtake of "Ornithology" from the New Dance session. It serves as a valuable means of bridging the years between the Ortega of old and that of the new millennium and also reiterates what a formidable foil he found in Domanico. A stalwart seventy-seven at the taping of the duos, Ortega still in possession of an improv-hungry mind that runs contrary to the relative paucity of his portfolio as leader.

~ Derek Taylor