On ‘Fly With The Wind’ Philly Jazz Collective Teams Up On Tribute To City’s Musical Heritage (ALBUM REVIEW)

Jazz fans will likely recognize the above names as Philadelphia musicians. Sure, it would have been easier to represent the six as the Temple Jazz Sextet, as they are often duly called as each is a member of the jazz faculty of Temple University’s Boyer College of Music & Dance. Each is also a composer, bandleader, and respected musician and are involved in many projects outside of their native Philadelphia as well.  In any case, this is the second release for the sextet: trumpeter Terell Stafford, tenor saxophonist Tim Warfield, alto saxophonist Dick Oatts, pianist Bruce Barth, bassist Mike Boone, and drummer Justin Faulkner. Barth arranged four lengthy compositions from four of the city’s most important jazz artists – Jimmy Heath, John Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, and Lee Morgan.  In so doing, the group tries to convey the essence of the Philly sound, steeped with hints of soul and hints of rhythm, and blues. The album takes its name from Tyner’s 1976 Milestone debut, the string-drenched Fly with the Wind.

The sextet opens with Heath’s “All Members,” first appearing in Heath’s 1975 Picture of Heath. Barth slows down th tempo just a bit in this interpretation that swings easily, propelled by Boone and Faulkner. Stafford steps up first with a fiery blast, indicative of the nickname bestowed on him by his late friend Heath, “Staff Inflection.” Warfield plies the lower register of the tenor in his gutty statement while Oatts takes the higher road, soaring lyrically. Barth takes a shimmering turn, leaving it to Boone and Faulkner to reduce the boil to a simmer for a couple of minutes before the ensemble takes it out with a roaring climax.

The title track, at a full thirteen minutes, is the focal point of the album.  Here, after a celebratory introductory fanfare from the three horns, the sextet launches the kind of intense, relentless pace for which Tyner was so well-known and respected. Barth’s arrangement for the soloists first features Oatts in a feistier posture than on the Heath tune, playing over the motoring rhythms followed by Stafford who begins deliberately but builds to flammable intensity (Stafford has the most experience of playing with Tyner in the group). Warfield’s scorching turn is at another level, beginning as a C Minor vamp but growing very fierce in dialogue with Faulkner. Barth plays with Tyner’s legendary percussive thunder and upon the horns return each is blowing so powerfully that the rhythm section cools it down for a minute before raising the ante for all six to collectively produce the anticipated explosive finale. 

A lush, harmonic take on Trane’s most endearing ballad, “Naima” follows the perfect antidote to the preceding intensity. Fittingly, Warfield, in a warm, hushed style all his own apart from Trane’s, is the featured soloist although Barth and Boone are quite strong in their spots as well. Lee Morgan’s “Yes I Can, No You Can’t” is the epitome of hard bop, 24-bar blues style. It first appeared on Moran’s 1965 Gigolo with Wayne Shorter, Harold Mabern, Bob Cranshaw, and Billy Higgins. For this version, Barth developed a three-part horn harmony for the frontline and lots of space for Faulkner to give his kit a sweaty workout.

Barth’s arrangements are superb as is the playing throughout. The only quibble is with just four tracks. The album weighs in well under 40 minutes so it seems they could have added a couple of more compositions given the wealth of artists to choose from such as Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Golson, Bobby Timmons, the other Heath brothers, or stretching into the free jazz of Archie Shepp or Sun Ra, to name just a few. Nonetheless, these formidable performances do justice to Philadelphia’s great jazz tradition.

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