Greg Abate Quartet, MF Jazz, The Open Hearth Pub, Griffithstown, Pontypool, 07/07/2015.

Greg Abate is an American multi reeds player ,composer and educator currently based in Coventry, Rhode Island. He made his name on the jazz scene in nearby Boston but is also a frequent visitor to the UK and tonight’s performance represented the first date of a tour that will see Abate criss-crossing the British Isles for virtually the rest of July.  He had stepped off a plane from Boston this morning and travelled straight to Wales for this gig, an extra date squeezed in at the behest of promoter Martin Fisher prior to Abate’s performance at Swansea’s Jazzland Club the following evening.

If Abate was fatigued it certainly wasn’t apparent in his playing as he presented an evening of stimulating and enjoyable jazz in the company of pianist Craig Milverton, bassist Ashley John Long and Martin Fisher himself at the drums. Abate has worked regularly with the excellent Milverton during his visits to the UK but tonight was the first time that he had actually met Fisher and Long. It was therefore not too surprising that the programme mainly consisted of well known jazz standards but I was pleased to see that Abate was sufficiently impressed with his new found colleagues to include a couple of originals in the second set, a move that worked very well.

Abate plays all four main saxophones (soprano, alto, tenor and baritone) plus flute but it is the alto that is his first love. He’s a terrific mainstream/bebop saxophonist, strongly influenced by the contrasting styles of Charlie Parker and Paul Desmond and also an admirer of the great Phil Woods, who he regards as the world’s greatest living alto player. Abate actually recorded with Woods in 2012 on a (very good) quintet album containing mainly original material. It features the leader playing soprano and baritone in addition to his usual alto thereby giving the alto chair to Woods for the five tracks on which his guest appears.

Abate’s other recent recordings include “Time For Dave” (2013), a Brubeck homage featuring Abates’ re-harmonised arrangements of some classic Brubeck tunes alongside a couple of originals from the pens of Abate and the quartet’s pianist Mike Levine. The most recent offering is 2014’s “Motif”, an album of mainly original material featuring a quartet of Tim Ray (piano), John Lockwood (bass) and Mark Walker (drums). An extensive back catalogue also includes “Birds Of A Feather” recorded with a British quintet featuring fellow saxophonist Alan Barnes.

Abate is a hard working musician who plays in excess of two hundred gigs a year. He’s obviously used to working with “pick up” bands and this current UK tour will see him working with many such outfits, usually led by pianists. It will be Dave Cottle’s trio in Swansea, Paul Edis’ in North East England, both top quality regional bands. As he revealed tonight Abate is adept at directing his fellow musicians, offering simple prompts and instructions in a friendly, encouraging manner, subtly controlling the proceedings but still allowing the individual personalities of the musicians to shine through. Standards offer jazz musicians a universal musical language and this freshly convened bunch of musical friends were clearly enjoying getting to know each other through the shared medium of the Songbook. 

Abate began the evening as he meant to go on with a stunning alto solo on the opening “S’Wonderful”, really setting his stall out early on. This is a man who plays with such power, fluency and clarity that he really didn’t need a mic in the intimate surroundings of the cellar bar at the Open Hearth. Milverton followed him at the piano, succeeded in turn by Long at the bass and finally Fisher with a series of drum breaks. Most of the tunes followed this well established pattern, a little bit predictable perhaps, but fully understandable given the circumstances, and in any case with soloists of this quality nobody was complaining.

“Strollin’” began with a lucid passage of solo alto sax before Milverton took the first conventional solo, followed by Abate on alto, Long on bass and Fisher on brushed drums.

A hard swinging take on “All The Things You Are” featured an exceptional solo from Milverton, one of the UK’s most popular mainstream jazz pianists. His exchanges with Abate’s alto were also a delight as was the saxophonist’s own solo, plus that of Long. Fisher produced a volcanic performance at the drums and the piece concluded with a cadenza for unaccompanied alto sax.

Another interesting arrangement saw “Moonlight In Vermont” ushered in by a duet for alto sax and double bass. Milverton then demonstrated a more lyrical side to his playing on this delightful ballad and Long’s double bass solo was similarly melodic. Abate loves to sprinkle his solos with quotes, proof if any were needed of his extensive knowledge of the jazz repertoire. Here he took a lengthy diversion into “If I Fall In Love” before finding his way back to the Green Mountain State.

Abate visited his Brubeck album for “In Your Own Sweet Way”, here given a modal arrangement that caused more than a little trepidation among the members of the trio as Abate called out his instructions. Despite the occasional glitch there was much to enjoy with Abate channelling the spirit of Paul Desmond alongside further solos from Milverton and Long.

The first set ended on an energetic note with a romp through the Charlie Parker bebop classic “Confirmation” with Abate’s garrulous Bird style sax leading the way. Another stunning Milverton’s solo included an unaccompanied passage that incorporated a plethora of jazz piano styles and he was followed by Long at the bass and Fisher with a series of effervescent drum breaks. Fittingly it was the leader’s solo sax cadenza that ended a hugely enjoyable first half, a good natured set that had included some interesting arrangements and some terrific playing, not least from Abate himself.

Set two commenced with Abate’s arrangement of Benny Carter’s “When Lights Are Low”  with solos from Abate, Milverton and Long followed by an absorbing saxophone/drum dialogue between Abate and Fisher.

By this point Abate felt confident not only to put down his alto and pick up his flute but also to choose to play a couple of originals. The first was “Contemplation”, a slow blues sourced from the album with Woods that is also a flute feature on the record. Tonight’s performance revealed Abate to be a highly competent jazz flautist with further solos coming from Milverton and Long and with the bassist also getting the chance to briefly demonstrate his bowing skills at the conclusion of the tune.

The second original, also played by Abate on flute , was “Red Fish Boulevard”, a contrefact based on the chords of “On Green Dolphin Street”. Solos here came from Abate on flute and Milverton on piano, Abate taking the opportunity of snapping a couple of photographs of his band mates as Milverton stretched out. Given the number of different line ups he’ll be appearing with he’s going to have a lot of pictures by the end of the tour!

Abate’s interesting arrangements stretched and tested the musicians while simultaneously intriguing the audience.  “Easy Living” saw Abate back on alto and introducing the tune with a passage of unaccompanied saxophone. He then encouraged similarly solo responses from Milverton, Long and even Fisher on brushed drums. The leader then picked up the melody of the ballad to introduce more conventional solos from himself and Milverton, the latter coaxing a commendably authentic acoustic piano sound from his Nord keyboard.

The second set concluded in the same way as the first with a breezy sprint through a Charlie Parker tune, this time “Yardbird Suite” with solos from Abate on alto and Milverton on piano followed by a spirited dialogue between the two that also managed to incorporate “Lady Be Good”. Following the now customary bass and drum cameos that was our lot for the evening. 

Unfortunately we were never likely to get an encore due to the size of a disappointingly small audience which barely made into double figures. Given that we had a distinguished American visitor and bearing in mind the popularity of Milverton with British jazz audiences I was surprised to see so few people, I’d arrived early expecting it to be a struggle to get in! Those that were present included a number of other musicians, including pianist Dave Price and vocalist Steve Doolan.

I can only surmise that the disappointing turn out was due to the fact that this event was not on Jazz MF’s usual club night which is traditionally a Friday. The place had been packed just days before for a Friday night Art Blakey tribute led by Fisher and featuring a sextet that included Long on bass, Richard West on piano and a three horn front line consisting of trumpeter Ceri Williams, trombonist Gareth Roberts and saxophonist Dick Hamer, local heroes all. They played some of the Jazz Messengers lesser known numbers, many with notoriously tricky charts, plus the inevitable “Moanin’”. It was all very good natured and informal, much like tonight, and again featured some excellent playing. I thought everybody would be back for Greg Abate but obviously jazz fans are creatures of habit, or possibly just reluctant to attend two gigs in a week. I found tonight’s low turn out a total mystery, to be honest.

In any event the stay-aways missed a treat. This was the first time I’d seen Greg Abate perform and I was very impressed with his power and fluency on the alto and pleasantly surprised by his abilities on the flute. It’s always a pleasure to hear Craig Milverton and Long is one of the most consistently interesting bass soloists around. Fisher drummed with his usual controlled power and his drive and enthusiasm as a promoter deserved a better turn out, although to be fair audience numbers at the Friday night gigs I’ve attended here have always been far more gratifying.

For me Greg Abate represented an exciting new discovery and subsequent listens to his Woods and Brubeck albums have revealed that he can cut it on record too. His July tour is really quite extensive, try to catch him somewhere near you if you can. If you’re a bebop/mainstream jazz fan you’ll find plenty to enjoy here, he really is a first class alto sax soloist.

From http://www.gregabate.com

July UK Tour

July 8 Swansea Jazz land Wales with David Cottle Trio

July 9 Jazz North East, Newcasstle upon Tyne,  With Paul Edis Trio

July10 Durham Jazz Club with Paul Edis

July 14 Wilmslow Conservative Club Graham Brook Jazz with Alan Barnes

July 15 Leicester Saxophone clinic workshop 3pm location Chutney Ivy Conference Room

July 16 The Crumbled Cookie Leicester with Craig Milverton

July 17 The Gayton Jazz Church Series with Tad Newton

July 18 Marlborough Jazz Festival with Bohop Trio

July 19 Guest with Judy Eames Trio Oxfordshire

July 20 The Daffodil 7:30 pm Cheltenham with Alex Steele 18-20 Suffolk Parade, Cheltenham, GL50 2AE, UK

July 22 Clinic /workshop 7to 9:30 pm St Cuthbert Mayne School Trumlands Road
Torquay

July 23 Brox Bar Teignmouth 10 Regent St Neil Burns Trio

July 24 Clinic at QE High School Wwetern Road Campus Crediton
to book a place go to http://www.vaccari.co.uk

July 24 evening concert at The Moon Jazz and Blues Club Buccaneers Live Music Venue and Bar
East Street Crediton with Matt Carter piano tickets:www.vaccari.co.uk

July 27 Bexley Jazz Club with Craig Milverton trio

July 29 The 606 Club London with Craig Milverton Trio

COMMENTS;

From Jazz MF via Facebook;

An informative and welcome review , many thanks Ian Mann.

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