Customer Reviews

Jimmy Heath: The Endless Search

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The Seattle Jazz Repertory Orchestra, devoted to the music of great jazz composers "creating works in the present as well as the revered composers of the past" honor then and now by recording a recent composition by guest artist Jimmy Heath, the legendary bebop saxist. Yet the past is a source of inspiration rather than imitation on this disc, and the music makes historical pigeonholing superfluous.

Heath's "Endless Search Suite" is the main attraction, a 3 movement work that seamlessly integrates changes of meter, feel and style to express the development of jazz while never simply summarizing periods or players. A lyrical, Ellingtonian introduction gives way to a sly bop head on the title track, with a humping ostinato bridge thrown in. "Inside Your Heart" is a touching ballad for soprano sax, and "Where It Started" uses bossa nova before moving into a blues jam. Heath the composer incorporates a wealth of sounds but doesn't just provide a medley. He develops thematic material organically, while giving plenty of solo space to Heath the tenor soloist and the band. Heath was 81 when the Suite was recorded, but his big tone, coy lines and omnipresent swing make age an afterthought. The SJRO handles these charts with confidence and power, and they all take turns as exciting, imaginative soloists.

The remaining tracks by other composers include lead alto Michael Brockman's "Passage Noir" (a Latin number with ominous tuba infused counterpoint) a hard-hitting jam on Mingus's "Haitian Fight Song" and an affectionately straight reading of Duke's "Creole Love Call" Unfortunately Heath's other composition, "Sleeves", is the only near-miss: demonstrating the able talents of all the saxists, it just doesn't rise to the same level as the other tracks.

That high level of musicianship demonstrates all that's left to be mined from so-called "mainstream" jazz. Critics might say this disc does not stalk out new ground in terms of style, and you do get lots of music in the best spirit of Duke, Basie, Bird, Dizzy, etc. Yet with music this passionate and assured, in well-constructed arrangements featuring imaginative soloists, what further ground do we want them to cover?