One of Randy Sandke's strong points is his flexibility. The trumpeter is -- like Pat Metheny, Chick Corea, and Herbie Hancock -- the type of improviser who isn't afraid to hurl himself into a variety of jazz situations. In 2005, Evening Star acknowledged Sandke's flexibility by releasing two very different albums around the same time. While the reflective Trumpet After Dark demonstrated how lyrical Sandke can be, Outside In is more cerebral. This 76-minute CD finds Sandke leading a nonet that he bills as the Inside Out Band, and the list of participants includes, among others, pianist Uri Caine, reedmen Ken Peplowski, Marty Ehrlich, and Scott Robinson, and trombonists Ray Anderson and Wycliffe Gordon. That's an interesting variety of players -- Anderson is highly regarded in jazz's avant-garde, while Peplowski is known for being a very straight-ahead player with a swing-to-bop perspective. But all of these personalities have no problem finding common ground on either Sandke's own compositions or arrangements of Duke Ellington's "Tonk" and the moody, lesser-known Jelly Roll Morton piece "Ganjam" (which is heard twice -- first with a Sandke arrangement, then with Morton's own arrangement). The Inside Out Band is an appropriate name for this nonet because many of the performances do, in fact, have an inside/outside perspective (more inside than outside). Nothing radically avant-garde occurs on this early 2005 recording -- Outside In will not be mistaken for a Charles Gayle release -- but the performances are challenging in a way that brings to mind Charles Mingus and Sun Ra in addition to the Boston-based Either/Orchestra. Outside In doesn't go out of its way to be accessible, but for those who don't demand immediate gratification from jazz, this album is a rewarding demonstration of Sandke's skills as both a soloist and an arranger.
© Alex Henderson /TiVo