1. For All We Know
2. What She Wanted
3. Gershwin's Skyline / I Loves You Porgy
4. Darn That Dream
5. Good Morning Heartache
6. Out of This World
7. Ice Dancing (for Torvill & Dean)
8. Left Alone
9. The Way You Look Tonight
10. But Not For Me
11. Primary Colors
12. My Ship
13. Too Many Reasons
14. Bird Experiencing Light
Jane Ira Bloom - Soprano sax
Dominic Fallacaro - Piano
Cameron Brown - Bass
Matt Wilson - Drums
American musician Jane Ira Bloom was a child prodigy who began learning the piano at four, alto at eight and the soprano saxophone at thirteen. She
benefited from a thorough musical education, both theoretical and practical. From 1980 onwards, she began to perform exclusively on the soprano saxophone.
She has led her own groups as well as playing and recording with others, showing herself to be amazingly versatile. She is a composer, a jazz educator at
university level in New York and has proved to be a born collaborator, linking up with artists across a wide range of other disciplines. She even founded
her own record label and publishing company, Outline.
Since the start of the Millennium she has won many awards, including the Downbeat International Critics Poll for her instrument. She says of her music
'Sometimes I throw sound around the band like paint and other times I play and feel as if I was carving silence like a sculptor.'
For this CD she is joined by Brooklyn - based pianist Dominic Fallacaro, himself a producer as well as a player, New Yorker Matt Wilson who topped the
voting for Rising Star Drummer for five consecutive years in the Downbeat Critics Poll, and the veteran bass player Cameron Brown who played in a group
with Bloom as long ago as 1988. The album takes its title from some words of Joseph Allen, a US astronaut, who commented that '…you see sixteen sunrises
and sixteen sunsets every day you're in space. No sunrise or sunset is ever the same.' (hopefully, that's true of jazz performances, too!). The disc has a
nice balance between Bloom's original material and a fine choice of standards, all ballads.
For All We Know , the first track, offers initially a straight rendition
of a beautiful tune which moves into some adept improvisation by Bloom,
accompanied tastefully by her fellow musicians. What She Wanted
sees Bloom at times moody, at times urgent, as she explores one of
her own songs. There is fine playing from Bloom, melodic piano from
Fallacaro and steady support from bass and drum. Gershwin's Skyline/I
Loves You Porgy begins with an evocative but very brief piece
by Bloom which segues into Gershwin's Porgy with Fallacaro
again expressive and Bloom exploring the tune with tenderness. Darn
That Dream has the saxophone never departing too far from the
melody but investing it with a proper jazz sensibility, ably supported
by the wider group. Good Morning Heartache sounds like a
playful and bluesy reprise of the previous track with piano as well
as saxophone to the fore.Out of This World proved to be my
favourite track, beautifully performed by all concerned but especially
by Bloom and Fallacaro. Ice Dancing (for Torvill & Dean) has
subtle shades of Ravel's Bolero in the arrangement and the
writing on this track, as might be expected given the title. The rhythm
section is on form here.
Left Alone is a suggestive, noirish theme. It actually conjured up
Edward Hopper's painting Nighthawks in my mind. It is played
with feeling by saxophone and piano throughout. There is a fine solo
by Cameron Brown and steady backing by Matt Wilson before Bloom's
impassioned playing brings the melody home. The Way You Look Tonight
doesn't have much by way of improvisation but is easy on the ear.
But Not For Me provides inventive variations on the song
by Bloom with mellow keyboard work and solid bass and drum accompaniment.
Primary Colors marks a departure for the CD inasmuch as this
is a recognisable jazz theme and the quartet go to town on it. Rippling
piano, in the first instance, becomes more punchy as it proceeds and
there is vibrant playing by Bloom, all driven along by Wilson's drums
and Cameron Brown's bass. My Ship is very brief and played
straight. Too Many Reasons is, for me, a less satisfactory
experience than much that has gone before, perhaps too repetitive.
Bird Experiencing Light has gentle pensive piano, rich soprano
sax and steady support from drums and bass.
Some may feel the soprano saxophone is too ethereal an instrument for their
taste, feeling that it is difficult to bring out the gutsy 'down and
dirty' sound we might look for in jazz. Jane Ira Bloom and her fellow
musicians are well worth an attentive hearing however, if you appreciate
quality music, played with sensitivity. If I have one criticism, it
would be that the tempos could be more varied but, against that, Bloom's
understated style and purity of tone is worth anybody's time.
James Poore
CD Reviews
Outline OTL 141
