Zane Massey
's
Safe to Imagine
is a reassuring sign that the
jazz
pantheon of tenor saxophonists continues to be renewed and reinvigorated. Adept in settings from
bop
to
post-bop
, from
free
funk
,
Massey
evokes
Rollins
Ornette
Coltrane
Mobley
Shorter
Henderson
Sanders
, et. al in a conception that is neither iconoclastic nor curatorial. He plays with vitality and imagination and has a maturity in his approach that resists the temptation to fill the canvas with notes. Made up of three trio and five quartet performances, this 1994 session covers a fair bit of ground with cohesion and logic. Playing with just bassist
Hideiji Taninaka
and drummer
Sadiq M. Abdu Shahid
works in an
Ornette-ish
vein on his own
"Telekinetics"
and then as a
Rollins-esque
sound sculptor on
Shahid
"Myras' Maya."
The quartet numbers, with pianist
Denton Darien
, are in a more
hard bop
style. The only clunker is
Taninaka
's corny
gospel
number,
"The Sun of Son."
In addition to writing from all members of the group, there are three pieces from
's father, the late composer and trumpeter
Cal Massey
, including two associated with
Archie Shepp
:
"Things Have Got to Change"
heard on
Shepp
's 1971 album of the same name, and
"Quiet Dawn"
from
's 1972 release
Attica Blues
. The former is a high-energy
modal
vamp that features
's soprano sax; the latter is a
Latin-ish
instrumental on which
's seven-year-old daughter
Waheeda
sang the lyrics (also penned by
Cal
) for
's version. ~ Jim Todd