#positone

“Maker’s Marc” makes up for the wobbly pun of its title with a strong unison head and an up-tempo meter ignited by the rhythm section. Fowser solos with immediate authority and brevity turning it over to clean-toned trumpeter Josh Bruneau as pianist Rick Germanson comps colorfully before moving forward for an improvisation of his own. Ten more pieces bring the program to sum just seven minutes shy of an hour. “Coming Up Shorter” tips figurative fedora to another saxophonist answering to the Christian name Wayne and the sort of slippery harmonies remain his signature. Fowser is cooler and more measured here, but the rhythm section still gooses him a comparable amount of gusto.

“You’re Better Than That” has Germanson switch acoustic keys for electric ones in the service of a syncopated Bossa beat that bassist Paul Gill and drummer Joe Strasser have no trouble in shoring up from their respective corners. Bruneau takes the lead and he legato phrases work beautifully with the more tonally open surroundings. “Fall Back” is vigorous and urgent by comparisons, sounding like a descendant of the sort of super-charged hardbop vehicles the classic Jazz Messengers band was famous for fielding while “Divided State” uses its double entendre title to comment subtly on the specific bifurcated situation that represents this country and planet politically. Bruneau almost steals the show once again on the latter with Germanson painting in pastels from his amplified console.  

“Queens” seems another composition with dual titular meanings, honoring both borough and significant others with a galvanic opening salvo and rich remarks from the horns and Germanson that burn up choruses without resulting in injury or feeling desultory. “Top and Bottom” and “Inversions” pivot off clever rhythmic displacements and exchanges that give Strasser space to work his sticks and Fowser the chance to tweak his phrasing at angles acute and obtuse. Gill also gets in some shrewd arco action on the first piece, coaxing a rich woody sound while the second is steeped in a scalar pattern that’s so familiar as to call into question the composer’s claim to authorship. Contestable ownership aside this session succeeds in further cementing Fowser’s stature as a tenor to be reckoned with.

Trumpeter Josh Lawrence contributes two pieces to vibraphonist Behn Gillece’s three starting with the brightly painted bop number “Happy Juice.” “Delia Was a Libra” alights on the airy catalytic agents of Gillece’s mallets and pianist Theo Hill’s keys as Lawrence and tenorist Roxy Cross harmonize a hand-to-glove response. Drummer Vinnie Sperrazza keeps loose, but attentive time on cymbals and snare while bassist Peter Brendler plucks a resonant center. The ensuing mood is richly that of vintage Blue Note Records in the best sense of the association.

Herbie Hancock’s “King Cobra” is the lone composition sourced from outside the Positone-centered songbook and the players approach it with the level of engagement commensurate with its caliber. Once again Lawrence and Coss closely align on the theme, the latter breaking off for a tender solo that gradually hardens with accelerated intensity. Lawrence cools the heat with his round-toned improvisation and Gillece gets in a luminous interlude that plays deftly with pacing and placement prior to a Hill sortie signaling a return to the head.

Three more Gillece pieces grace the remainder of the program starting with the vamp-fueled “Down the Pike”, which sets the composer and Hill up in tension-building opposition to the horns. “Vortex” starts as a tone poem for mallets, adding instruments incrementally in the service of mood-drenched momentum that sustains for eight-plus minutes. Again, the retrospective feeling is palpable without being derivative and Coss steals the piece with a lush tenor extemporization complemented by supple accompaniment from the rhythm section and Brendler in particular. The music works equally well as survey of individual and collective talents and convincing averment of Positone’s deep talent bench.

Nine out of the dozen tunes originate from Weiskopf’s imagination with three carefully chosen covers covering the diverse stylistic bases of Forties Pop (“Candy”), Bird (“Segment”) and Weather Report (“Scarlet Woman”). The originals are as eclectic as they are numerous, making the most of Weiskopf’s sideman choices particularly in the pick of organist Brian Charette who applies a modernist sensibility to the instrument right in line with past greats like John Patton and Larry Young. Vibraphonist Behn Gillece draws from a comparable lineage in echoing the advancements of Bobby Hutcherson and Khan Jamal. Drummer Steve Fidyk takes readily to the demands of sustaining a rhythmic fulcrum for Weiskopf’s shifting frameworks.

“Coffee and Scones” acts as fortifying opener for the foursome with first leader and then Gillece and Charette riffing on a bustling soul bop motif. The organist’s pedal bass line is especially effective in advancing a groove alongside Fidyk’s steady snare accents. “Separation” slows the action down to a smoldering ballad tempo with both organ and vibes opening up tonally in response as the leader raises sail on the theme and later turns in a flexing, propulsive solo for contrast.  “Innotene” and “Blues Combustion” table contrast for straight up incandescence igniting on fleet tempi and tight, dime-turning contours. Weiskopf keeps all but one of the cuts in the under-five-minute range ensuring that none wear out welcome through overelaboration. Points earned for originality in both design and execution, Weiskopf and crew have come up with vibrant and viable alternative to the all-too-common organ combo longueurs.

 Roughly five years ago the lure of session leadership led Webb to a contract with Positone. Triple Play, his fourth album for the label, deviates from its quartet-configured predecessors in presenting the tenorist in the company of two formidable contemporaries on his instrument, Walt Weiskopf and Joel Frahm. Organist Brian Charette and drummer Rudy Royston round out the ensemble and further the feeling of the sort of relaxed jam sessions that used to be the province of labels like Prestige and Verve. Favorable comparisons to classic conclaves like Booker Ervin/Sonny Stitt (Soul People) and Arnett Cobb/Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis (Blow Arnett, Blow) and aren’t completely out of bounds.

Webb sequences originals by all three saxophonists with a handful of covers starting with an accelerated rendition of Coltrane’s “Giant Steps”. First up though, “Jones”, a breezy blower by the leader based on standard changes which introduces each of the horns in succession over eddying up-tempo support by Charette and Royston before a truncated string of fours. Weiskopf’s “Three’s a Crowd” riffs humorously in both title and content on the comparatively close quarters of the frontline through a spate of staggered unisons. Royston keeps the pocket covered from behind his kit and Charette comps with salubrious legato swells into a compact solo of his own near the track’s close. Keeping statements short and sweet is the overarching name of the game.

The succession of three-pronged theme statements can get a bit disorienting in terms of parsing who’s doing what and where, but the horns are fairly easy to distinguish once they disentangle for individual solos. Densely packed rundowns of “The Way Things Are” (Weiskopf’s spin on the standard of similar title) and “Avalon” are immediate cases in point with tightly twining heads spinning off into rapid-fire individual improvisations as the rhythm section sustains a precariously fast pace. Royston’s breaks on the latter are dime-stoppingly precise and a sharp contrast to the funky syncopations he brings session’s penultimate piece a steady burn turn on Lou Donaldson’s “Alligator Boogaloo”, which features Charette at his most eccentric and unfettered. If there’s a quibble to be lodged at Webb’s overall design it lies in the absence of ballads of slower tempos, but the unrelenting forward momentum reveals its own rewards.