David Schnitter/ Dominic Duval/ Newman Taylor Baker - The Spirit of Things

CIMP

Throughout its existence, Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers held a reputation as a repository for journeyman jazz talent. Commentators commonly center on the steady stream that poured forth from the band in its first decade through the surnames of Morgan, Shorter, Hubbard, Walton, etc. Later young lions weaned under the Blakey wing tend to garner short shrift. Saxophonist David Schnitter is among this latter cohort, having served with the drum doyen in several Seventies incarnations of the Messengers. This CIMP date sets him up with two receptive partners and marks his first recording in a trio format. His relationship with bassist Dominic Duval dates back to a 1990 jam session. Drummer Newman Taylor Baker is a far more recent acquaintance, but the three establish an easy rapport from the outset. Schnitter’s style is a loose amalgam of Sonny Rollins and Joe Henderson tempered with lots of personalized touches. His phrasing is frequently long and lanky, with a dry warm tone that he occasionally atomizes into fuzzy striations. “Jitterbug Waltz” highlights a healthy sense of humor as Schnitter parses the familiar descending theme with a pursed staccato delivery above whisking brushes and percolating bass.

Baker is a minor wonder on the cans, measuring finesse with a frequent funkiness. His succession of break beats on an irreverently syncopated rendering of “Criss Cross” carry enough rhythmic juice to make most club DJs salivate. On a lush and tender “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” his sticks apply just the right amount of texture around the tenor’s drawling lines. “Sampson” exposes Schnitter’s Henderson roots and even finds him quoting from the elder’s “Inner Urge”. “Blues for John” is a blowing vehicle redolent with simmering Ear of Newk. Duval doesn’t overplay or intrude, eschewing heavy amplification and aligning with Baker in a number of vibrant conversations. He’s well attuned to Schnitter too and the pair’s sly reading of “In a Sentimental Mood” is intimate and nuanced enough to cause Baker to sheath his sticks and simply listen in silence. The closer “Bright Mississippi Georgia” points again to that aforementioned comedic streak as an alchemical amalgam of “Georgia Brown” and Monk’s “Bright Mississippi”. As with most latter day Blakey alums, Schnitter’s profile is eclipsed by those who came prior. This overdue outing suggests that reappraisals are in order.

~ Derek Taylor