Saxophonist Tom Tallitsch leads a quartet that includes organ, guitar and drums, a lineup that conjures the expectation of a grooving, soul-jazz-blues amalgam along the lines of Hank Crawford, Jimmy McGriff and Jimmy Ponder. But Tallitsch is a post-bopper at heart, who plays tenor with the pivoting angularity of Joe Henderson. He is also a fine composer, interested in creating interactions that are more harmonically sophisticated and melodically pliable than the groovy tropes of organ-laden “soul jazz.” Head or Tales benefits from the mating of these virtues.
The absence of a bassist puts some air beneath the ensemble, in part because organist Jared Gold, a mainstay on Posi-Tone label recordings, plays with admirable restraint while fleshing out the rhythm. He has abundant chops, as his hop-scotching solo on “Flat Stanley” demonstrates, but is less inclined than most of his peers to spray-paint songs with colorful blasts of sustained notes from his instrument. Guitarist Dave Allen is likewise attuned to texture — listen to the way he underscores Tallitsch on their unison passages during “Double Shot.”
