Identity By Subtraction... The Jazz Breakfast review
The saxophonist is not exactly prolific – this is his fourth disc in 11 years – but there is always a feeling that his music has benefitted from the long gestation period. It’s thoughtful, rich and has some real personality and depth.
The line-up is the classic quartet format, with Andrew McCormack on piano, Gary Crosby on double bass and Rod Youngs on drums, and Baptiste uses it to express his “responses to life’s experiences as a black man of Caribbean descent playing jazz music in the UK in 2011”.
The title track and Apprehension both push hard, while Dance Of The Maquiritari has a lovely light step and a great hook of a melody line. Special Times is a graceful soprano exploration.
There is a timeless quality about the compositions which I rather like. Take a tune like Evolution From Revolution, which, although it might have the occasional modern turn and a beat which has hip-hop nuances from Youngs, could come from any time in last half century.
Harriot’s Chariot – A Life In The Bass Line, is pretty straight-ahead romp behind the late Harriot’s bass player, Coleridge Goode, remembering how he and the band developed as jazz players to the point where they were putting their thoughts into music. At the end he summarises: “it something that comes from vast experience, from practice: living!”
That segues immediately into Song For You, dedicated to the late Bheki Mseleku. Another jazz natural.
Mainly Baptiste plays tenor with a smooth, dry tone suited to his quietly intense improvisations. They are full of melodic and rhythmic freshness, and the band, especially McCormack, provides strong support.
