A double-length set from Chicago tenorist
Chris Greene – but a package that may well not be enough to hold all the new ideas in his music! We've really watched
Chris grow strongly over the past few years – and with this wonderfully well-crafted, rich-voiced album, he steps forward to a level that rivals some of the much bigger saxophone talents recording these days for labels like High Note or Criss Cross!
Greene's always had a deep tone in his horns – one that draws from a Chicago tradition, but inflects it with some of the more contemporary modes of later players on the scene – like Eric Alexander, who
Chris might be approaching with this set. The range of rhythms and song styles is great – never gimmicky, but expanding past standard expectations – so that
Greene's group is playing Coltrane and Wayne Shorter one minute, then Martin Denny the next, then Ed Motta, then a huge batch of their own great compositions as well. Instrumentation is simple –
Chris on saxes, plus piano or keyboards, bass, and drums – but there's some wide voices here that really make the album compelling – and the longer length very necessary to contain it all. Titles include "Firecracker", "Deluge", "Day of Honor", "Divers", "Solution", "Papuera", "Clean & Clear", "Institutional Samba", and "Nostalgia In Times Square".