Legendary bassist Ron Carter’s annual October takeover of the famous Times Square jazz club Birdland is in the stretch run, as the final weekend of his residency began with a sold-out early show on Thursday night October 19th.
Over the course of the last month Carter has played at the NYC club in a variety of formations (duo, big band) but this final weekend finds him going back to his bread and butter, welcoming in his Foursight Quartet, focusing on jazz interplay rooted in a hard bop style. Foursight is composed of stellar musicians, drummer Payton Crossley, tenor saxophonist Jimmy Greene, and pianist Renee Rosnes, who all have their own award-winning careers, and have also played with Carter for years now.
Their expert togetherness was evident from the opening notes and never sagged throughout the hour-and-a-half show. Impressively, the band kicked off and didn’t take a single break in the action, at all, until after 50 minutes plus of straight playing; it was hard to reconcile this level of energy from an 86-year-old band leader, but never once did Carter seem slowed, quite the contrary. For the opening salvo of tunes, the group was clearly led by Carter’s groove and Crossley’s percussion as Greene and Rosnes added melodic solos.
The set opening segue-fest was silky smooth and while there were individual songs played, the organic whole of the group, collective sound, and dynamic interplay were more impressive than individual solos or compositions. The rolling jazz of efforts like “595” and “Seven Steps to Heaven”, firmly showed this group’s pure love of adventurous bop sound as Greene’s extended solos soared while Carter kept the bass moving, leading the way.
“Mr. Bowtie” effortlessly drifted in, setting into a theme as Greene’s sax blared, but it was the dynamic “Flamenco Sketches” that added the most nuanced and stood out in the early set run as Crossley expertly used his brushes, softly shifting between tender moments and Sketches of Spain like marching; a clear early highlight that drifted into “Mr. Bowtie Reprise”, after which the quartet had their first pause of the night.
Following the spirited, extended opening, Carter jokingly took the mic and said, “For our second song…” before dedicating the ballad “My Funny Valentine” to Chicago bassist Richard Davis who passed away last month. The song was a highlight for Rosnes who duetted with Carter beautifully. The maestro then took over the spotlight himself with an incredibly unique, solo rendition of “You Are My Sunshine” that was both experimental and emotionally moving. The full quartet then revved back up the hard bop for a set closing spin through “You and the Night and the Music” which found each musician shining via extended solos.
The dapperly dressed, right down to their socks, the quartet is made up of legendary jazz figures, but the best aspect of Foursight Quartet is how they put all egos and showmanship aside to focus on the notes, songs, and overall sound, expertly kicking off the first of their six shows this weekend at Birdland.
