Ed Petersen - Upward Spiral

Delmark 445

Much ink has gone toward lamenting the lack of national recognition accorded such Chicago tenor doyens as Fred Anderson and Von Freeman. It’s a laudable cause and one I’ve championed on occasion, but the sobering reality is that there are deserving parties who receive even less ink. Case in question: Ed Petersen. The saxophonist quit the Chicago scene in 1994 for the greener pastures of academia in New Orleans and it’s unclear whether this new Delmark disc is a reissue or just a reshuffling of a title to the top of the catalog. The copyright date still reads 1990 and the material, a mix of live and studio performances, sources from a year earlier. I’m mainly familiar with Petersen from his part in Von & Ed, another Delmark title that caused a minor splash upon release, but subsequently sank from view. As tenor tandems go they were a rousing fit, Vonski’s idiosyncrasies jibing well with Petersen’s more square-shooting approach. Recalling the pleasures of that date, the chance to hear Petersen fronting his own Windy City crew was one I had no compunction jumping at.

Petersen’s most prominent influence is Coltrane, but by proxy I also hear echoes of Billy Harper’s intensity in his phrasing and sometimes biting tone. He’s no shrinking violet and vigorously negotiates switchback changes of the tunes, all of which are the product of his own design. The other plus in the band is a youthful Fareed Haque on guitar. Haque’s been gigging a lot recently with Kahil El’Zabar and bringing a welcome range of colors and nuances to the percussionist’s music. Here his nimble plectrum balances a palpable interest in rock and fusion-friendly playing (an element that along with bassist Rob Amster’s robustly amplified strings fixes the disc as indicative of its time) with Petersen’s strong postbop focus. The rhythm section of Brad Williams, Amster and Jeff Stitley works well together, but again, it’s the pairing of the leader and Haque that strikes the majority of improvisatory sparks, particularly on the first four live cuts.

I used to be a monthly patron at Jazz Record Mart when my residence in Madison made the trips feasible. One of the few things I found disheartening about the store, which is otherwise pretty much an unmitigated jazz fan’s Mecca, was the stacks of long boxed Delmark titles piled in proximity to the sizeable used section. I’m not positive, but I’m willing to bet that there were copies of this Peterson title among them, a shame considering its quality. For a label with such history and consistency, much the Delmark back catalog of past several decades seems sorely underappreciated.

~ Derek Taylor