Stefon Harris: BlackActionFigure (Blue Note)
Easily the most exciting vibist to emerge since Bobby Hutcherson, Harris is a virtuoso with a seemingly limitless fund of ideas and a sheer joy in playing as likely to invigorate existing approaches to jazz as his compositional skills may help refine them into something new. He dominates this impressive album in both roles, leading a fluid group which includes such iconoclasts as Steve Turre (trombone), Greg Osby (alto), Jason Moran (piano) and Gary Thomas (flute/tenor), with a powerfully sustaining and flexible rhythm section completed by Tarus Mateen (bass) and Eric Harland (drums). Able to shape a group performance and integrate solos seamlessly into it, he's a marvellous talent definitely going places.
- Ray Comiskey
Warren Vache/Tony Coe/Alan Barnes: (Zephyr)
The latest in John Bune's fine mainstream series is a trifle rough in spots - one or two ensembles untidy or initially uncertain - but overall it's up to the standard set by his "house" septet. Coe (tenor/soprano), Barnes (alto/baritone), are one-offs, fresh and original; along with the generally in-form Vache on cornet they're a formidable front line, pushed by the Rolls-Royce rhythm team of Brian Lemon, Dave Cliff, Dave Green and Allan Ganley or Clark Tracey. Interesting material by Mobley, Dameron, Golson, Tommy Flanagan and Coltrane (a careful Giant Steps) and good standards (Out Of This World and Some Other Time) show a desire to stretch the mould, if not actually break it.
- Ray Comiskey