On the street where you live (Lerner, Lowe)
[9:03]
Bemsha Swing (Monk) [6:16]
Innerspace (Corea) [6:50]
One hopeful day (Soskin) [7:39]
Step lively (Soskin) [6:52] *
It’s easy to remember (Rodgers, Hart) [4:56]
End of a love affair (Redding) [6:39]
Strive (Soskin) [8:08] *
Pensativa (Fischer) [7:32]
Chris Potter (tenor and soprano sax)
Mark Soskin (piano)
John Patitucci (bass)
Bill Stewart (drums)
* John Abercrombie (guitar)
Systems Two Recording Studio, New York, 13-14
December 2006.
Now in his fifties, Soskin
is probably best known for his lengthy stint
(ten years? fifteen years?) with the great
Sonny Rollins. But he has played and recorded
with many other significant musicians too
– they include Sheila Jordan, Bobby Watson,
Joe Henderson, Slide Hampton, George Russell
and Mark Murphy. Soskin is a pianist of great
facility, his lines long and flowing at times;
there are touches that make one think, irresistibly,
of Bill Evans, but Soskin isn’t confined by
such models. Very obviously a highly accomplished
musician, Soskin’s merits as a soloist are
not so immediately obvious. They lie more
in detail than in the grand sweep; he is not
a showy or especially extrovert player and
he needs to be listened to carefully if one
is to appreciate his work, especially harmonically.
Here he is supported by a
fine bass and drum partnership in Patitucci
and Stewart, crisp, hard-driving yet sensitive.
Patitucci, in particular, underpins the whole
session quite admirably. At the forefront
is Chris Potter, on notably good form, whether
driving hard or gorgeously lyrical on a ballad
such as ‘One hopeful day’.
The basic quartet is joined
on two tracks by John Abercrombie, who makes
his presence felt, while being wholly integrated
into the sound of the group.
The repertoire is well chosen,
a mix of standards (e.g. ‘On the street where
you live’), jazz standards (such as ‘Bemsha
Swing’) and Soskin originals. All five musicians
sound relaxed and comfortable with one another;
there’s a real sense of musical dialogue,
not least in the interplay between the soprano
of Potter, the piano of Soskin and the guitar
of Abercombie on ‘Strive’.
Soskin’s own very best work
as a soloist – he is uniformly accomplished
as an accompanist – perhaps comes on the closing
track. Soskin’s own musical personality has
more than a little in common with that of
Claire Fischer and Soskin’s unaccompanied
interpretation of Fischer’s ‘Pensativa’ is
unalloyed delight.
This isn’t an album of which
any claims for great originality can be made.
But what can – and should – be said is that
it is sophisticated music making by five musicians
utterly at home in the idiom of the modern
jazz mainstream, an hour of subtle and (sometimes)
passionate music.
Glyn Pursglove
CD Reviews
KIND OF BLUE 10019 [64:03]
