Marucci & Webb Trio

Co-leadership has its advantages. For one, it’s the easiest way to assuage egos and keep creative conflict in check no matter what a band’s persuasion. Recurring collaborators for the better part of three decades, drummer Matt Marucci and saxophonist Doug Webb reap the rewards of just such an arrangement in their jointly fronted trio. Two dates taped two months apart - one a live gig at a Sacramento lounge, the other, the second half of a spring visit to the CIMP Spirit Room - demonstrate the sapience of such an arrangement while yielding disparate music. One set is an easy sell, the other less so.

Cadence Jazz 1203

No Lesser Evil took some time in warming to my peculiar sensibilities, but the time invested eventually paid off. Part of the difficulty lies in the comparatively “conservative” feel of the program. Marucci and Webb tip the docket well in favor of standards and while their readings aren’t shy with liberties taken, some of the pieces still carry a whiff of formaldehyde. A crackling version of “A Night in Tunisia” makes for a decent start with Marucci stirring up a Blakey-sized barrage on toms and Webb burning through the changes on tenor. Maurcci’s own “Blues Suspension” leavens some of that early momentum with a shuffle march that sounds like a borrow from the Dave Liebman songbook, but it’s Webb’s slightly anemic Coltrane-influenced soprano that ends up cooling the ignited coals by the time the lukewarm ballad “Emily” arrives. “Star Eyes” suffers from a similar soft touch approach, but the player’s take on “Take Five” reveals unexpected aces. Bassist Kerry Kashiwagi isn’t the best bellows to bolster the occasional passages of dissipating heat and he sometimes seems a bit superfluous amidst the closer-knit interplay of the leaders. He plies capable backdrops behind the principals, but sounds reluctant to flex too freely in his own solo showings. The general effect is that of a prototypical pianoless Steeplechase session. Not a bad point of comparison by any measure, but still suggestive of par slightly missed.

CIMP 356

Recorded two months prior, several alterations in design give the aptly titled Change-Up a leg up on its later live companion. First, there’s the mandate from producer Bob Rusch that Marucci focus solely on his own compositions. As on 3 the Hard Way, an earlier CIMP release from the same session, most of his pieces are riff or vamp-based, leaving plenty of space for spontaneous movement with each musical circulatory system. The freer leaning feel of the set stands in contrast to the standards emphasis of the other disc. The presence of Ken Filiano kicks things up a notch too, the bassist’s facility and inventiveness easily outclassing that of Kashiwagi. Marucci and Webb draw off the increased creative energy and subsequently sound more receptive to upping the ante in terms of improvisation. “Upstate Connection” represents a capsule study in Filiano’s catalytic effect. Webb sits out while bass and drums ladle on a nasty groove that begs for further elaboration beyond three minutes and change allowed. Testament to its complexity, it’s the only tune of the batch that required double digit takes to nail. “Riff for Rusch” works off grist similar to the kind that Ken Vandermark likes to grind. Webb works over a staccato riff-based theme on stritch and Marucci spins a frothing rhythmic current beneath. Over twice the duration of the version on Evil, it also has double the punch in its martialized delivery. Marucci and Webb are both sharp and seasoned talents, but it’s on the CIMP where they embrace the challenges of a less conventional setting that more memorable outcome occurs.

~ Derek Taylor