Down The Line Personnel: Gary Foster, alto,  Larry Koonse, guitar Putter Smith, bass, Tim Pleasant, drums Tracks: Cuttin' Back, Down the Line, Never Let Me Go, Eastern View, Bag's Groove, It's All You, Slow Joe, Beatrice, Harlequin, Time Line, If You Never Come To Me.

“Down the Line”

 
What can you say about a group like David Sills? Well, actually, a lot, and so I will. First, because he is such a fine player himself, he didn’t need to surround himself with some of the best jazz players in the business, but he did and more power to him. I don’t know Tim Pleasant, the drummer, but that’s my problem, as he completely holds his own with these other so capable performers.
 
Sills is a graduate of Long Beach State University and the Manhattan School of Music. Both institutions are well known for their excellence in turning out both jazz and classical performers and David is proof of that.
 
He also does something on this CD I rarely hear in saxophone performance: He creates tasty melodies by playing the best and most essential notes. He doesn’t play high, or loud, or fast, just because he can, using the technical ability of the tenor sax to saturate one’s ear drums with a million notes a minute and otherwise make a nuisance of himself musically. He just plays tasty lines and good notes.
 
Five of the great selections on this CD are originals by Sills. There is an additional one each by Koonse and Broadbent. The last four should be quite identifiable to anyone familiar with better standard jazz repertoire.
 
 “Cuttin’ Back,” is the first tune, and the melody reflects the title. It’s laid back theme is presented in triadic form, with alto on top, tenor in the middle, and guitar filling out the bottom. A relaxed and enjoyable way to start this CD, as you are truly “Cuttin’ Back” and having a good time.
  
This tune is an extended 24 bar blues adding an 8 bar vamp that leads back to the top.  Even more interesting, the tune breaks down into four measure sections. Tenor takes an energetic first chorus, but still nicely laid back. Larry Koonse on guitar, as usual, takes an excellent solo and the tune ends with a rhythm section fade.
 
The second tune, “Down the Line,” opens with a brisk 32 bar unison melody line. It sounds almost familiar, even though it’s not, but it’s still something easy to identify with. I would like to have this in my own library, if only because it has such a great melody. David reminds me of Bob Cooper and Stan Getz in that he plays at the top of his form, but doesn’t try for outrageous and showy temperament or beyond what the music calls for. A famous teacher from Berklee once exclaimed to an auditioning student: “F—k your bag, man, just blow.” David does that.
 
Alan Broadbent plays his first of several impeccable solos on this CD. It’s always a pleasure to hear him perform.  I’ve known him since1972 when he was the pianist on the Woody Herman band. He’s always been a top of the line performer, and I have yet to hear anything from him creatively that would let down our musical world.
 
Next comes one of my favorite alto players of all time, not to mention one of the most pleasurable people to hang with. (And I might even mention mischievous and humorous, but that’s another story.) I’ve known Gary since the mid-70s when we were on Lew and Toshiko’s band together, and believe me, the pleasure has been mine. Gary plays with the wonderfully pure and beautiful sound of a Paul Desmond, but the creativity is totally his own.
 
Putter Smith, a most excellent jazz bassist, follows Gary Foster’s solo.  Another musician whose association has enriched my own thinking, Putter is always a competent jazz creator in anything he is involved with.
  
Tune number three is a Livingston/Evans tune called “Never Let Me Go.” It begins with a cadential, rubato opening by Alan Broadbent, introducing David’s haunting rendition of the melody, played with the kind of sensitivity that is always so pleasurable to listen to. The time weaves in and out of a double-time feel, but when David gets to his solo, it becomes straight double-time.  His improvisation is like the melody of the piece. It keeps to the solitude, sensitivity and scope of the original theme. There is also a commendable symmetry to the form in that piano began the piece with a rubato cadential statement, and David ends that way.
 
I applaud No Sound and Entourage Studios for recording and mixing so fine a CD.  As I have always said, when you can aurally select an instrument from the mix and isolate it, or listen to the group as a composite whole, the engineers have done a fine job.
 
Tune number four, “Eastern View,” has a Latin feel.  It begins with a piano vamp after which the melody line begins. Another of David’s tunes, this melody is arranged for unison tenor sax and guitar. It is a gentle, laid back tune. Larry Koonse, on guitar, has the first solo. An additional thought about Larry Koonse: Whether playing solos on CD’s with Bob Florence’s big band, Tom Warrington’s “Corduroy Road,” his own CD’s, or on this CD, Larry stands alone.
 
Gary Foster’s effortless alto solo effortlessly floats above the rhythm section with wonderful melodic sensibility. One might think that Gary, even being so expert a player of harmonic changes, might have either taken the time  to rehears these harmonic progressions carefully with the group before the recording, or he might have just as easily sight read the changes on the date.  His solo on this tune is impeccable, no matter what his decision.
 
David, on tenor and with his usual creative approach, has the third solo.  Alto takes the melody part of the way out, tenor and guitar are on the bridge in unison, followed by a short chordal configuration from the front line and a final unison line to the end.
 
Tune five, “Bag’s Groove,” is a well-known jazz standard written by Milt Jackson. This version is played as a medium slow tempo blues with an excellent groove all the way. David plays flute on this time.  Note: If you’re listening closely to the rhythm section on this tune, you can understand why it is so much fun to play with this group.
 
Larry’s uses one of my favorite expressions of creativity in a guitar solo, a chordal solo, then takes a second chorus on a single line. As he knows the best extensions to play when soloing chordally, it is worthy of our attention when he plays this kind of solo. Drummer Tim Pleasant trades fours until the final out chorus.
 
“It’s All You,” another original, is tune number six. An energetic drum solo introduces another inventive Sills melody line after which alto takes the first solo. What makes this piece so interesting is that, after the guitar solo, tenor and alto take an in-time, contrapuntal chorus. You don’t hear this kind of refreshing _expression very often, and it’s a welcome change from the ordinary. Out of the contrapuntal chorus comes the final melodic statement.
 
Note: Even after listening to six tunes, I’m still impressed hearing David play the tenor sax. He creates great improvisatory lines. Period.
 
Number seven is “Slow Joe,” a delicate, medium Latin original. The melody is in four bar segments, each played by a different instrument after which a group unison line ends the tune. The first solo is tenor, then piano, alto, followed by a similar rendering of the first melodic statement to a vamp and fade which takes the tune out.
 
Sam Rivers wrote “Beatrice,” tune number eight. Bassist Putter Smith has the first solo on this pleasant medium swing tune, followed by tenor, then guitar. Larry again mixes equally great unison and chordal lines in his creative efforts. Tim Pleasant takes a short but tasty drum solo before the group goes back to the head and takes the tune out.
 
Larry Koonse’s original, tune number nine on this CD, is called “Harlequin.” It’s an affecting and moody ballad.  He uses alto, tenor and guitar in a triadic rendition of the melody, rhythmically mixing the feeling of four (in the front line) over three (in the rhythm section). Gary has the first solo, a beautiful alto sax creation that is equal to the sensitivity of the original melody. Tenor is next, after which alto joins David in an improvised duet, this time including the rhythm section. The final chorus follows with a vamp fade.
 
Number ten, by Alan Broadbent, a medium fast tempo, is another 32 measure tune called “Timeline.” The melodic statement ends with an eight measure vamp, with a two bar break to introduce the first solo. Alan writes a great melodic line with a superlative rhythmic flow. Tenor has the first solo, then the composer on piano, who takes his own chordal style solo. Guitar is next, after which the bass trades fours with the drummer Tim Pleasant. Putter Smith does a little Slam Stewart singing during his fours, then the group returns to the top of the form playing in-time contrapuntal lines, until reaching the bridge, after which they take the tune out on the original unison line.
 
The last tune, a Latin composition by Antonia Carlos Jobim, is called  “If You Never Come To Me.” This is not a familiar Jobim melody, which makes it new for me. So, even though it is recognizable as a Jobim tune, it gives me great satisfaction to hear something from him I haven’t heard before. A vamp with guitar, bass and drums begins the tune. Sills states the melody, guitarist Larry Koonse offers his usual excellent improvisatory treatment of the harmonies, weaving back and forth with chordal and unison lines. What a better way to play a Jobim tune than to have so creative a guitar solo for the first chorus. Tenor is next on this simple quartet rendition of the tune, ending with a vamp that David completes with a short cadenza. And the CD is finished. Need I say anymore? I don’t think so.