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Gerry Malkin Quintet at the BeanRunner Café

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By Karl Ackermann
November 15, 2016
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Gerry Malkin Quintet
The BeanRunner Café
Peekskill, New York
November 12, 2016

The Gerry Malkin Quintet is a quintessential, hard-working, New York area group that plays top-notch music, while going under-recognized in the competitive and crowded metropolitan marketplace. What is atypical of its session-savvy members are jazz pedigrees that run deep in the jazz hierarchy. The quintet brought their show to the popular BeanRunner Café in the Hudson River city of Peekskill, New York, just north of Manhattan. A combination of art gallery, performance space and eatery, the BeanRunner is a suburban variation of NYC's Jazz Gallery. Though it subsists in a small-city, boutique style setting with casual—but very good food—the music is the venue.

Leader and tenor saxophonist Gerry Malkin has performed with

Tito Puente

drums
1923 - 2000

" data-original-title="" title="">Tito Puente,

Lew Soloff

trumpet
1944 - 2015

" data-original-title="" title="">Lew Soloff,

Adam Nussbaum

drums
b.1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Adam Nussbaum,

George Colligan

multi-instrumentalist
b.1969

" data-original-title="" title="">George Colligan and

Dave Weckl

drums
b.1960

" data-original-title="" title="">Dave Weckl, to name a few. A graduate of the University of Bridgeport, he was mentored by

Dave Liebman

saxophone
b.1946

" data-original-title="" title="">Dave Liebman,

Frank Foster

saxophone
1928 - 2011

" data-original-title="" title="">Frank Foster and

Bob Berg

saxophone
1951 - 2002

" data-original-title="" title="">Bob Berg and is teacher himself. His early career had a strong Motown connection as he played with The Temptations and The Four Tops.

Guitarist Chris Morrison has performed with

Richie Cole

saxophone, alto
1948 - 2020

" data-original-title="" title="">Richie Cole,

John Patitucci

bass
b.1959

" data-original-title="" title="">John Patitucci and

Brian Torff

bass
b.1954

" data-original-title="" title="">Brian Torff. With a Master's degree in Jazz Performance from the Conservatory of Music at SUNY Purchase, he also teaches jazz guitar and small group jazz at Western Connecticut State University. Keyboardist Jeff Pittson cites

Chick Corea

piano
1941 - 2021

" data-original-title="" title="">Chick Corea and

Bill Evans

piano
1929 - 1980

" data-original-title="" title="">Bill Evans among his influences. He has performed with

Joe Henderson

saxophone
1937 - 2001

" data-original-title="" title="">Joe Henderson and

Kenny Garrett

saxophone, alto
b.1960

" data-original-title="" title="">Kenny Garrett and recorded with

Maynard Ferguson

trumpet
1928 - 2006

" data-original-title="" title="">Maynard Ferguson. Portland, Oregon native and bassist Mike McGuirk has performed

John Abercrombie

guitar
1944 - 2017

" data-original-title="" title="">John Abercrombie,

Dave Liebman

saxophone
b.1946

" data-original-title="" title="">Dave Liebman and

Tim Hagans

trumpet
b.1954

" data-original-title="" title="">Tim Hagans and recorded on the

Marc Copland

piano
b.1948

" data-original-title="" title="">Marc Copland/Liebman Quartet outing Lunar (Steeplechase, 2002). Rudy Petschauer sat in for regular drummer Bobby Leonard. A steady presence on the NYC jazz scene, Petschauer has played with

Renee Rosnes

piano
b.1962

" data-original-title="" title="">Renee Rosnes,

David "Fathead" Newman

saxophone, tenor
1933 - 2009

" data-original-title="" title="">David "Fathead" Newman,

Lou Donaldson

saxophone
1926 - 2024

" data-original-title="" title="">Lou Donaldson and

James Moody

woodwinds
1925 - 2010

" data-original-title="" title="">James Moody along with many others.

The group opened the set reaching back to the 1926 standard "Bye Bye Blackbird." Like all of the extended takes to come, Malkin's arrangements open with a loose adherence to the original shape of the composition. But this quintet is an improvisational powerhouse, and ten or so minutes in, they had unquestionably taken ownership of the piece.

Antonio Carlos Jobim

piano
1927 - 1994

" data-original-title="" title="">Antonio Carlos Jobim's "How Insensitive" (Insensatez) remained true to its bossa nova origins for only a few measures when Morrison's blistering guitar solo stood the piece on its head.

Cedar Walton

piano
1934 - 2013

" data-original-title="" title="">Cedar Walton's "Cedar Blues" wasn't one of the pianist's most adventurous compositions, but in the hands of Malkin's quintet, it takes off. Opening as a collective effort, Morrison and Malkin broke off into solos and Petschauer took his first extended share of the spotlight and he rocked it for all it was worth. "Once in a While," made popular by the Roland Kirk Quartet with

Elvin Jones

drums
1927 - 2004

" data-original-title="" title="">Elvin Jones on Rip, Rig & Panic (Limelight, 1965), featured Pittson's dirty blues opening before the quintet jumped in for a more raucous handling of the piece. The first set closed with a high-energy take on

Sonny Rollins

saxophone
b.1930

" data-original-title="" title="">Sonny Rollins' "Oleo."

Included in the fiery second set were versions of "Alone Together" and

Woody Shaw

trumpet
1944 - 1989

" data-original-title="" title="">Woody Shaw's "Beyond All Limits," the latter described by Malkin as a ..."power cha-cha...." It was on this piece that Malkin's deep, throaty tenor hit its high point of the night. Several more standards closed out the evening with the quintet never letting up on the energy level. Their extended techniques and unique hybrid of post-bop and straight-ahead jazz was always enhanced with a visceral punch. Malkin like to refer to his playing as being ..."in the tradition..." and that paints a far more structured picture than this first-class improvisational experience revealed.

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