The gap in the release dates of the
Falkner Evans Trio's first album,
Level Playing Field, and its second,
Climbing the Gates, is four years, 2002-2006, but that's deceptive. In fact,
Level Playing Field was recorded two years before its release by Metropolitan Records, and
Climbing the Gates had to wait four years before CAP (Consolidated Artists Productions) put it out, so the two albums are separated by only two years. That
Climbing the Gates sat on the shelf so long may be more a matter of its style than its quality. Pianist
Evans, bassist
Cecil McBee, and drummer
Matt Wilson recorded direct to two-track tape, the old-fashioned way for a jazz disc, corresponding to what a set in a club might sound like. And this music could have been heard in a club any time in the last 50 years. It's straight-ahead acoustic jazz, including imaginatively reworked versions of pop standards like "Easy to Remember" and "I'm Through with Love" alongside
Evans originals in the same vein. The
Thelonious Monk cover, "Ask Me Now," and the
Milton Nascimento cover, "October," make interesting rhythmic demands that the trio meets without difficulty. They sound like they've been playing together every night for years, and this just happens to be a set that was caught on tape. No new ground is broken, by any means, but the album demonstrates that traditional jazz is alive and well, even if it isn't commercial enough to attract much interest from record companies. ~ William Ruhlmann