For his second Dreyfus Jazz album,
Grossman ventures into New York's Sweet Basil club, with a stellar piano trio (
McCoy Tyner,
Avery Sharp,
Art Taylor) in tow. With this kind of firepower, the listener is usually guaranteed a satisfying level of cooking jazz, and that's certainly what we get here, though it seldom rises above that into a higher region.
Grossman's tune choices are mostly predictable standards, the one exception being his own cheeky title "Love for Sal," a bop-style number where the bass and then the piano double the tune's lead sax statement. Throughout,
Grossman likes to fire away the eighth notes in that pungent,
Sonny Rollins-influenced tenor tone, with
Tyner often temporarily (and generously) dropping out so that the saxophonist can develop freer melodic patterns over the bass and drums. "Impressions" -- taken virtually at
Tyner's late employer
John Coltrane's tempo -- does achieve a special ignition, driven hard by
Taylor, with some exploration of multiphonics by an inspired
Grossman. Otherwise, a mostly solid live session of post-bop. ~ Richard S. Ginell