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Melissa Aldana
Free Fall
Inner Circle 017
HHH
The daughter of Chilean saxophonist Marcos
Aldana, young tenorist Melissa Aldana obviously
grew up with an ear to her father’s playing
and an eye on his record collection. The
influence of sax giants of earlier generations
is obvious throughout Aldana’s solid debut,
particularly Sonny Rollins and Atlantic-era
John Coltrane.
Those forebears, of course, loom large in
any tenor player’s development, and Aldana
isn’t mired in the past. Yes, “Broadway
Junction” nods towards “Giant Steps,” and
the breezy “Flip Flop” explicitly quotes “St.
Thomas,” but Aldana breathes considerable
life into this sound, never seeming like she’s
looking over her shoulder into a long-gone era.
She smartly anchors her quartet with a
veteran rhythm section. It’s impossible not
to swing with Ralph Peterson Jr. behind you,
and the drummer sounds crisp and propulsive
throughout, joined by bassist Lyles West.
The duo also contributes the album’s two ballads:
West offers the tenderly sensual “Lacy
Things,” Peterson the torch-song “Tears That
I Cannot Hide,” which gives Aldana the
opportunity to unveil a warm breathiness in
her playing. She’s an expressive instrumen-
John Colianni Quintet
On Target
Pawtuxent 222
HHH
For piano players going back to the basics of
tasteful, simmering swing is not just an occasional
pleasure. It’s more like a necessity to fill
the tank with high-octane, old-school, eight-tothe-bar
groove juice.
That’s what John Colianni and his group
pump throughout On Target. The tracks
include covers of big-band tunes, which feature
sizzling brush work by Matt Fishwick, steady
walking eights from bassist Young Robert
Wagner and most critically pulsing rhythm
guitar from Joe Friedman. The arranged parts
are played by Colianni and guitarist Justin
Lees in tight unisons or harmonies for the sole
purpose of driving the beat even harder.
And the solos spotlight the leader’s clean
articulation. Everything Colianni plays is
about swing. Even when Justin Lees rips
through his choruses, the piano is riffing like
a wall of horns behind him. Hardly a space is
left unfilled. Sometimes that’s a little taxing:
On Woody Herman’s “Apple Honey,” Colianni
repeats a 16th-note three-against-four lick
throughout Lee’s solo, stopping for breath only
at the middle eight and then picking it up again
on the other side. It actually doesn’t push the
talist; listen for the slight catch she lends to
the melody of the mid-tempo “Pasos,” which
adds a bittersweet vulnerability to the tune.
The ensemble is completed by Aldana’s
Berklee classmate Michael Palma on keys.
His aptly titled “Creepo The Thief,” with
its darting-in-shadows head, is a standout; a
free breakdown in the middle shows a more
abstract side to the quartet, Aldana and
Peterson daringly suspending time. The piece
is the strongest evidence here of the mentorship
of their mutual teacher (and label chief)
Greg Osby.
—Shaun Brady
Free Fall: Free Fall; Pasos; Creepo The Thief; Tears That I Cannot
Hide; L-Line; Broadway Junction; Lacy Things; Broken Roses; Flip
Flop. (60:22)
Personnel: Melissa Aldana, saxophone; Michael Palma, piano;
Lyles West, bass; Ralph Peterson Jr., drums.
Ordering info: innercirclemusic.net
groove as much as distract from what the guitar
is doing. The magic is more likely to happen
on the out choruses. When the middle eight hits
before the last chorus of another Herman staple,
“Northwest Passage,” everyone blows like
crazy. When the tempo relaxes, Colianni does,
too. He invests “Ill Wind” with the weary/wise
insights of the saloon balladeer; a key change
before the last chorus feels like lights coming
on as last call is sounded. —Bob Doerschuk
On Target: Apple Honey; Ill Wind; Northwest Passage; Quintet
Symphonette; Whacha Know, Joe; One For Jimmy Hicks; This
Side Up; 52nd St. Theme; Boulevard Of Broken Dreams; Strictly
Instrumental; Gone With “What” Wind; Casa Loma Stomp; A
Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square; Jumpin’ At The Woodside.
(41:53)
Personnel: John Colianni, piano; Justin Lees, guitar; Joe Friedman,
guitar; Young Robert Wagner, bass; Matt Fishwick, drums.
Ordering info: pxrec.com
Ali Jackson/Aaron
Goldberg/Omer Avital
Yes!
Sunnyside 1271
HHHH
On this lush and superlatively swinging set,
drummer Ali Jackson, pianist Aaron
Goldberg and bassist Omer Avital explore
the value of time and space, and what happens
when those musical principles are
measured with grace and a little grit. At
its heart a simple, traditional swing outing,
Yes! is performed with such confidence and
finger-snapping sense of relaxation/jubilation
that its whole becomes greater than
its parts. And that traditional infuse-ment
is surprising, to say the least. One might
expect this trio to bust out of the gate at
warp speed, perhaps plying Latin, folk melodies,
or progressive improvisations (as
Goldberg did on the recent Bienstan with
Guillermo Klein) in a burst of Manhattancentric
energy.
Lifelong friends who have worked
together in a variety of settings, Jackson/
Goldberg/Avital instead take a trad
approach to Monk (“Epistrophy,” with
Jackson particularly colorful), Ellington
(Duke and Mercer) and Abdullah Ibrahim,
then jump on the romping title track
(which recalls a hyperactive Piano In
The Foreground) and a handful of equally
empathetic songs. It all fits like a soft
leather glove, and the highlights are many:
the lovely warmth of Avital’s solo over
Jackson’s glowing brushwork in his sweet
“El Soul”; the Basie-esque swing-sizzle
of Mercer Ellington’s “Way Way Back”;
the great feeling between the notes in
Ibrahim’s inchworm-like “Maraba Blue”;
and the funky-butt blues groove of Duke’s
“The Shepherd,” where everyone smiles.
Throughout, the Yes! trio seemingly knock
back a few cool ones, take their own sweet
time and put some serious soul to CD.
—Ken Micallef
Yes!: Maraba Blue; Yes!; Aziel Dance; Epistrophy; El Soul; Way
Way Back; Homeland; The Shepherd; Manic Depressive.
(64:22)
Personnel: Ali Jackson, drums; Aaron Goldberg, piano; Omer
Avital, bass.
Ordering info: sunnysiderecords.com
70 DOWNBEAT MARCH 2012