#dick oatts

The other aspect that sets it agreeably apart from most jazz guitar dates is Hart’s application of reharmonization in interpreting the standards chosen to slot alongside a small handful of originals. The guitarist frontloads the latter tunes, leaving the second half of the album to select covers that trade original chord structures for new ones. These fresh frameworks are frequently more elaborate while leaving the associative melodies essentially unaltered. That preservation of form results in tunes that remain recognizable at the core while veering in intriguing directions when it comes to harmony.  

Altoist Dick Oatts joins Hart’s working trio with bassist Bill Moring and drummer Tim Horner on a handful of the tracks with agile phrasing that’s almost Lee Konitz-like in its cleanliness of tone. Hart’s new harmonic lattice for “How Deep Is the Ocean” inserts a teeming stream of cross-hatched activity around the saxophonist’s lead melodic statement. The leader’s response is ripe with ringing octaves and shimmering single notes that scatter across the swaying beat sustained by Moring and Horner to presage a mellifluous unison finish. Active and accommodating without feeling overstuffed, it’s inspiring interplay that echoes across the rest of the album. 

 Another spring-loaded chase between alto and guitar propels the first of Hart’s originals, “In Traneing.” It’s a predictably brisk piece that compensates for the questionability of its title with a steep slalom into blues by first Oatts and then his employer. Bass and drums once again bite playfully in tandem at their heels for the duration. Oatts sits out on “Time on My Hands” and “Sophisticated Lady,” allowing space to hear the trio in close conversation and Hart to approach each from its orthodox harmonic progression. Whether he’s tinkering playfully with a tune’s musical mechanics or playing it comparatively straight, Hart’s plectrum punches pleasingly above its weight.

Saxophonist Dick Oatts, here solely officiating on alto, has long had a rearview mirror approach to his stylistic preferences. Seven originals and a single cover of Cole Porter’s title tune sound like they could’ve been recorded a half-century ago or yesterday. Trumpeter Joe Magnarelli favors a pleasingly rounded attack in lineage with classic cool-toned purveyors like Kenny Dorham and Chet Baker, but with celerity of phrasing and singularity of placement that belies both. Pianist Anthony Wonsey, bassist Ugonna Okegwo and drummer Chris Smith work equally well as flexible foils for the horns or on their own.

Oatts’ sound on his instrument regularly limns the upper register, skirting the edges of soprano territory as on the opener “Yesteryear” where his ribbon-like patterns spool over a cleanly swinging rhythm stamped most prominently by Smith’s steady sticking. “Do Da Day” takes the dwarfish dictum as starting point for an ambling blues march and some tight horn unisons on the theme. Magnarelli gets first crack on the solo front and devises a dazzling descending improvisation that folds right into Oatts’ own elocutionary investigation of the melody.

“Como Uno” brings the requisite Latin angle with Smith switching to syncopated rims and cymbals in line with a throbbing variable center from Okegwo. Once again Oatts and Magnarelli affect a tight weave that pulls pleasingly apart into divergent solo statements. Mood and tempo turn somber for the spacious ballad “Lossofyou” with Okegwo’s strings leading the processional alongside Smith’s mallets as Oatt’s reed sketches a floating reverie from feathery airborne phrases. Mallets also factor crucially on the dark loping blues “Midwest Mideast” while “Gameshow” caps the album with a concentrated dose of collective humor. Sight-deprived contestants prepare to be stumped.