Saxophonist/composer Jacam Manricks’ 2009 release “Labyrinth,” looms as a captivating artistic statement. Composed for jazz quintet and chamber orchestra, Manricks conveyed great depth and enveloped quite a few jazz-tinged frameworks into the grand schema. Similar attributes emerge on this 2010 follow-up, featuring some modern-day jazz titans amid an aggregation of cunning developments that reveal additional insights on repeated listens.
Manricks has taught at estimable music institutions while honing his crafty with other notables, including the late Ray Charles.

With this effort, he lays out an intricate mosaic of song-forms, spanning odd-metered funk, breezy choruses, buoyant time signatures and much more. But it’s how he interconnects the various parts that yield the bountiful fruit, to complement the band-members’ luminous and at times, gritty soloing spots.
On the wittily titled “Cluster Funk,” the leader incorporates R&B and mainstream jazz with a progressive edge, emphasized by the hornists’ punctuating notes. However, Manricks ability to fuse quirky deviations into the roads frequently traversed provides an exciting element, where organized decomposition attains equal ground with structure. His dense compositional methodologies remain true to form on ballads, evidenced by lush voicings, thrusting crescendos and a little big band impetus during the piece titled “Nucleus.” In other regions of the program, Manricks injects staggered flows and off-kilter metrics to coincide with the ensemble’s blitzing unison lines and memorable hooks. No doubt, Trigonometry is a compelling musical study in divergent angles, rolling waves and supple underpinnings. – Glenn Astarita

Track listing: Trigonometry; Cluster Funk; Slippery; Nucleus; Miss Ann; Sketch; Mood Swing; Labyrinth; Combat; Micro Gravity.
Personnel: Jacám Manrickss: saxophones; Gary Versace: piano; Joe Martin: bass; Obed Calvaire: drums; Alan Ferber: trombone; Scott Wendholt: trumpet.
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