Live in New York, CamJazz ***
Drummer Antonio Sanchez is an electrifying performer, as his explosive affect on Pat Methey's band has already shown, and his polyrhythmic virtuosity is also central to the group - with Miguel Zenon (alto), David Sanchez (tenor) and Scott Colley (bass) - that he leads on this two-hour live double. Both saxophonists are typically New York, high-energy, technically assured, adroit, inventive players, while Colley and the leader are magisterial. The quartet's range encompasses the bristling, qualified freedom of
Greedy Silence, a superfast
Did You Get It, the studied funk of
It Will Be Better, a straight- ahead reading of Metheny's
H and Hand a gentle
Ballade. The band is tremendous, tight and visceral yet also thoughtful, with both individual and collective intelligence. But it's less adventurous than this would suggest. And curiously unmoving.
See CamJazz.com