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MUSIC<br />
MUSIC<br />
Jon Irabagon<br />
<strong>Behind</strong> <strong>the</strong> Sky<br />
Irabbagast Records, CD<br />
Saxophonist Jon Irabagon is so prodigiously talented and prolific, it’s<br />
hard keeping up. This fall he has two new records out; <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r is <strong>the</strong><br />
bracing Inaction Is an Action, for solo sopranino. He’s also on three<br />
more, by Dave Douglas’s quintet (it brings out Irabagon’s warm side),<br />
by merry chameleons Mostly O<strong>the</strong>r People Do <strong>the</strong> Killing (indulging a<br />
penchant for mangled quotations on Mauch Chunk), and by drummer<br />
Barry Altschul’s unfettered trio 3dom Factor, which gives Irabagon<br />
ample blowing room.<br />
In some ways, he recalls his elder by a decade: James Carter,<br />
likewise a Midwesterner and playful virtuoso on several saxophones<br />
who shows how widely and well he’s listened, covering a lot of stylistic<br />
ground over time. Not that <strong>the</strong>y sound alike. Carter goes back to Don<br />
Byas, Irabagon forward to Evan Parker. <strong>Behind</strong> <strong>the</strong> Sky is Irabagon’s<br />
most straight-ahead outing since 2009’s The Observer, a swing<br />
through <strong>the</strong> post-bop continuum and a bid for mainstream listeners<br />
that might be missing out.<br />
He has <strong>the</strong> virtues <strong>the</strong>y<br />
prize. Irabagon’s tunes<br />
grow from catchy nuggets,<br />
something to hang your ear<br />
on as <strong>the</strong>y set <strong>the</strong> players<br />
spinning. On tenor, he has<br />
swagger to spare, boasts<br />
a brawny pliable tone, and<br />
makes easy work of wayward<br />
chord changes. Even his<br />
ecstatic cries fit neatly over<br />
quickly shifting harmonic<br />
undercurrents. On <strong>the</strong> yelpand-holler<br />
“Mr. Dazzler,” a<br />
convoluted stop-time head<br />
gives way to flat-out swing, à<br />
la <strong>the</strong> early Marsalis bro<strong>the</strong>rs.<br />
It’s a quick intro to what<br />
Irabagon can do on tenor,<br />
minting new figures and<br />
spinning variations on those.<br />
The pumped up “Sprites”<br />
shows him hitting <strong>the</strong> same<br />
marks on soprano.<br />
His rhythm trio nips at his<br />
heels, and raises <strong>the</strong> energy<br />
level even when he’s already<br />
headed for <strong>the</strong> roof. Drummer<br />
Rudy Royston takes <strong>the</strong><br />
heady rhythmic subdivisions<br />
Irabagon improvises and<br />
throws <strong>the</strong>m right back at him.<br />
Royston boils straight through<br />
<strong>the</strong> brisk “The Cost of Modern<br />
Living,” busier than some<br />
drummers on <strong>the</strong>ir solos.<br />
Caracas-born Luis Perdomo<br />
comes out of <strong>the</strong> Tyner/<br />
Hancock/Corea piano nexus<br />
and goes for Latin inflections<br />
whenever a tune gives him an<br />
opening, here locking into a<br />
montuno groove down below.<br />
(continued)<br />
110 TONE AUDIO NO.75<br />
November 2015 111
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