If you haven’t heard tenor saxophonist Wayne Escoffery, his presence in trumpeter Tom Harrell’s quintet is reason enough to check him out. Among other credits, you might consider his membership in drummer Ben Riley’s (Thelonious) Monk Legacy Septet and the (Charles) Mingus Big Band plus his degrees from the Hartt School (he studied with Jackie McLean) and the New England Conservatory. Or you might just pick up “Uptown” (Posi-Tone) and dig his forthright delivery, confident sense of rhythm and masculine expression.
Although the album title and the backing instrumentation – guitar (Avi Rothbard), organ (Gary Versace) and drums (Jason Brown) – imply a soul-jazz orientation, the music covers other bases, too. It’s true that “Easy Now,” “Nu Soul” and a bluesy, bouncy version of Duke Ellington’s “I Got It Bad (and That Ain’t Good)” provide down-home cooking. But “No Desert,” “Cross Bronx,” “Gulf of Arabia” and others extend the harmonic and rhythmic ingredients in a manner reminiscent of the late organist Larry Young’s “Unity,” a visionary Blue Note album from the ’60s.
Whatever groove this quartet is in, there’s a sense of mastery, with Escoffery leading the charge. The group shows strong blues roots, the ability to swing hard and a robust sense of joy.
