Wayne Escoffery: Uptown (Posi-Tone Records)

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He has become indelibly associated with the New York scene, but in fact tenor player Wayne Escoffery was born here in London, though he was still a child when his mother took him to the States. He is an in-demand side and session man, and is now a regular with the various Mingus bands that work out of the Jazz Standard in midtown New York.

Uptown has him leading a quartet with Avi Rothbard on guitar, Gary Versace on organ and Jason Brown on drums. While we’re used to hearing Escoffery on original material – and there is plenty here, both from his pen and that of Rothbard – but more of a novelty is hearing him get stuck into a standard like Ellington’s I Got It Bad. He has something of Sonny Rollins’ or Dexter Gordon’s directness of attack and confident, melodic improvising, while the band grooves hard behind him.

Escoffery has a particularly personal and indentifiable way of playing patterns on faster originals – reminiscent of a player like Chris Potter, though by no means an imitator. It means some of his soloing can feel a little predictable, expert though it is.

Rothbard has a fairly straight jazz guitar sound but is fleet of finger and fluent in ideas. Versace and Brown swing hard in support.