Lena Bloch, Feathery

Lena Bloch plays the tenor saxophone. Like Richard Tabnik, whose music we considered a few days ago, she has been influenced by the Tristano school of jazz players. In her case she fell in with Lee Konitz after some considerable shedding and found that Konitz, Marsh and Tristano himself gave her something, a base within which she could express her individuality.

Her debut album, after much dues paying, shedding and gigging, is with us. Feathery (Thirteenth Note 006) gives us a good look at her music in a quartet setting--with Dave Miller on guitar, Cameron Brown, bass, and Billy Mintz, drums.

It's a wide-ranging set with a couple of Tristano school numbers and some band originals. They alternate between a swinging pulse bop and post-bop approach and some more free expressions. She is a looser player than someone like Konitz in his typical identity. She is not a line weaving speed-demon here as much as a player with real creative inventive qualities.

The band plays a full four-way role with plenty of time and space for their soloing and interacting.

Lena comes through with an interesting, even exciting debut. I hope we continue to hear from her and see where she goes but for now this is a promising start.

Alan Rosenthal, Just Sayin'

I wasn't very intimate with the music of pianist-composer Alan Rosenthal before his new CD Just Sayin' (self-released) crossed my desk. Now I most certainly am!

He meshes together with the great bass and drums of Cameron Brown and Steve Johns, respectively, and lets loose.

He has affinities, certainly, with middle-period Paul Bley and early-mid Keith Jarrett. And a touch of Bill Evans. But he goes his own way with that to create a very inventive set of performances. It's new-bop, free-bop, bop-be going on in the best sense.

The compositions pop, the band swings brilliantly and Alan creates some very choice pianism. It's all there: touch, striking voicings, lines of originality and some very groovy Cameron and Steve.

Eight Rosenthal originals plus the old "Red, Red Robin" as a change up make for a very listenable set.

It's an extraordinarily nice trio outing that will make you happy if you seek something in the modern vein that is NOT shopworn.