Composing is by no means mandatory for jazz improvisers.
Stan Getz and
Chet Baker are two examples of jazz masters who weren't known for doing a lot of composing, and both of them recorded plenty of five-star albums that contained no original material at all. Nonetheless, the soloist/composer aesthetic is certainly a valuable part of jazz, and it is an aesthetic that works well for
Robin Verheyen on
Starbound. The Belgian soprano/tenor saxophonist, who recorded this album in Munich, Germany, in 2009, embraces only two non-original songs on
Starbound: bassist
Nicolas Thys' "Long Island City" and the
Harry Warren standard "I Wish I Knew." All of the disc's nine other tracks are
Verheyen originals, and he shows a need to express himself through both his composing and his saxophone playing.
Verheyen's expression is of an acoustic post-bop nature, and some of his post-bop offerings are fast and angular ("On the House" and the abstract "Roscopaje," for example). But on "Narcis," "The Flight of the Eagle," "Tree Line," and the 11-minute "Lamenting," he slows things down and is quite pensive and reflective (as well as fairly lyrical). Drawing on post-bop influences like
Wayne Shorter and
John Coltrane (among others),
Verheyen won't win any awards for being groundbreaking. But not every jazzman who comes along is obligated to be an innovator; realistically, most musicians (jazz or otherwise) won't be innovators -- which is fine as long as the artist strives for quality. And
Verheyen (who forms a quartet with bassist Thys, pianist
Bill Carrothers, and drummer Dré Pallemaerts) is obviously striving for quality on this 54-minute CD.
Starbound isn't an exceptional album, although it's certainly a solid one -- and it's clear that
Verheyen has potential as both a saxman and a composer. ~ Alex Henderson