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FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH
(Dreyfus Records)
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In addition to boasting intricately devised and impeccably executed arrangements, this live recording (from New York’s Birdland in December 2002) shows the members of Haynes’s quartet responding to and anticipating one another’s moves with lightning intuition. Unfortunately, their dynamics are somewhat undermined by the overbearing presence of Haynes’s drums in the mix. The 79-year-old jazz legend does still have his chops, as do saxophonist Marcus Strickland (whose warm, lush tone smacks of Coltrane), pianist Martin Bejerano (whose versatility is reminiscent of Brad Mehldau and Chick Corea), and bassist John Sullivan (who stays with Haynes’s hi-hat through every twist and turn). Most of the pieces here are associated with former Haynes bandmates like John Coltrane, Pat Metheny, Thelonious Monk, and Oliver Nelson. The quartet get off to a weak start with a reharmonization of "Greensleeves" (a tribute to Coltrane) that never leaves the ground, but they recover nicely on the Monk classics "Twinkle Trinkle" and "Green Chimneys." Their rendition of Nelson’s quintessential hard bop "Butch and Butch" proves Haynes can still play as he did back in the day (he was on the 1961 recording of the tune from Nelson’s The Blues and the Abstract Truth). And though the slow-tempo "Ask Me Now" feels claustrophobic, it’s balanced by former Haynes pianist Dave Kikoski’s "Inner Trust," a hard-swinging testimony to the less-is-more school of playing. What the recording lacks in production, the quartet make up for in creativity and cohesiveness.
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