Rich Halley 4

More than 30 years into his recording career tenor saxophonist Rich Halley, 77, still improvises and composes with the same adroitness he has exhibited for decades. Arguably the linchpin of Portland, Oregan’s creative music scene, Halley continues to turn out uncompromising Free Jazz that is adventurous without being abstruse. Long time associates and fellow Oregonians, trombonist Michael Vlatkovich and drummer Carson Halley join him here as well as Vancouver-based Clyde Reed, who has been part of Halley ensembles since the turn of the century.

Vlatkovich, who has worked with everyone from Vinny Golia to David Mott is the perfect partner here as Roswell Rudd was with Archie Shepp. The master of quotes, the trombonist studs his solos with snatches of standards like “Bye Blackbird” plus brief trajectories to embedded Bop riffs. The saxophone-trombone timbral explorations are made possible by the in-sync projections from the bassist and drummer. Reed eschews flashiness for a steady, horizontal, pace while C. Halley is a less fettered but usually sticks to backbeats, pops and cymbal shimmers.

That leaves space for Halley and Vlatkovich to advance, but always with perfect control and a sense of swing. The trombonist is as apt to take the lead with vibrating smears, deepening plunger spills and double tonguing. Halley’s response or introduction centres around low-pitch flutters, emphasized split tones and piercing squeaks.

The sometimes broken chord delineation comes with two structures. A tune like “Stretching the Sinews” for instance blends aggressive brass plunger tones with reed tongue stops and honks then slides into a faster groove with bass stops and drum rim shots and ends with linear vibrations divided between the trombone’s lowest pitches and the saxophonist’s highest ones. Meanwhile the yearning melody of “After Dawn” brings out a gentler interface with brass grace notes and note bending from the saxophonist. Although both horns players vie as to who can express the lowest note, the conclusion adds trombone triplets and reed bites to enliven the theme.

Which such skill and strength emphasized from “Spherical Aberration” the first track all the way to the final “The Hard Truth” without a letdown, the fact that Halley – and Vlatkovich for that matter –  aren’t better known may be reflected in the last title. The hard truth is that by being far from major Jazz centres, much high quality music often gets ignored. That doesn’t affect its quality as a listen to Dusk and Dawn will attest.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Spherical Aberration 2. The Return 3. Retrograde  4. After Dawn 5. Spatter 6. Stretching the Sinews 7. The Hard Truth

Personnel: Michael Vlatkovich (trombone); Rich Halley (tenor saxophone); Clyde Reed (bass) and Carson Halley (drums)