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Jeff RUPERT and Richard Drexler Imagination
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RUPE
MEDIA RM111016CD [57:52]
Without a Song
I Can’t help It
Snowfall
Strange Meadowlark
Imagination
A Felicidade
My Mistress’ Eyes
Soul Eyes;
Jeff Rupert (tenor saxophone) and Richard Drexler (piano)
Recorded June 2015, Timucua Arts White House, Orlando, FL
Jeff Rupert and Richard Drexler have worked together over nearly three decades, prominently as a duo or as members of the bands of Kenny Drew Jr and The Jazz Professors. Over two evenings they recorded a full programme from which eight tracks have been selected for this gatefold disc.
Rupert’s stylistic lodestar must be Stan Getz and his playing on Without a Song is echt-Getzian though with a slight admixture of Ben Webster’s breath-laden lower register, Drexler’s ‘walking’ accompanying figures ensuring that the ensemble is tight. In fact, to some degree, the duo reminds me of the rapport generated between Getz and Kenny Barron. They do well by Thornhill’s Snowfall imbuing it with a grace and a sense of almost Debussian tracery that suits the elegance of its construction and thematic depth. Leisurely and lyrical, it finds the duo at the apex of their impressionistic-leaning selves.
The pianist’s chording brings out the harmonic richness of the van Heusen/Burke Imagination in a number that surely pays homage to the ballad mastery of Getz. This is a subtle performance, bringing a strong lyric canvas to bear and showing intuitive understanding based on long knowledge of each other’s playing. This is not to imply anything copyist, slavish or otherwise, about Rupert’s tenor playing. It’s strongly in the Getz orbit, undoubtedly, but as A Felicidade shows there’s room for manoeuvre in the Brazilian mode and stylistic integrity is properly maintained, something that applies throughout the set. There’s only one original and that’s Jeff Rupert’s My Mistress’ Eyes, a warmly textured slow ballad. With a bit of linguistic wit the last track also surveys the eye in the form of Mal Waldron’s Soul Eyes where Drexler can stretch out and both men allow the piece to end in a gentle, winning close.
This enjoyable, unhurried album enshrines classy performances.
Jonathan Woolf
