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Keefe Jackson Quartet: Seeing You See

By Troy Collins
May 5, 2010
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The vibrant Chicago jazz scene has been home to many impressive young artists, most of whom collaborate in a rotating roster of collective ensembles. This communal approach has yielded a deep pool of talented individuals intimately familiar with each other's working methods, providing them with a sort of regional shorthand. Multi-reedist Keefe Jackson is one such up and coming Windy City resident, whose striking quartet debut, Seeing You See is every bit as compelling as his work with his large ensemble Project Project and the cooperative Fast Citizens.

Former

Ken Vandermark

saxophone
b.1964

" data-original-title="" title="">Ken Vandermark 5 trombonist

Jeb Bishop

trombone

" data-original-title="" title="">Jeb Bishop (The Engines, Lucky 7's), ubiquitous bassist Jason Roebke (

Jason Adasiewicz

vibraphone

" data-original-title="" title="">Jason Adasiewicz,

Fred Lonberg-Holm

cello
b.1962

" data-original-title="" title="">Fred Lonberg-Holm,

Mike Reed

drums
b.1974

" data-original-title="" title="">Mike Reed,

Jason Stein

clarinet, bass
b.1976

" data-original-title="" title="">Jason Stein) and Japanese drummer Nori Tanaka (Jason Ajemian,

Jeff Parker

guitar
b.1967

" data-original-title="" title="">Jeff Parker) are all regulars in the fertile Chicago scene. Their stylistic familiarity with Jackson's writing lends this date a thematic cohesiveness common to the current Chicago sound. A traditionalist at heart, Jackson's compositions offer subtle alterations to classic jazz conventions rather than radical re-contextualization.

From the pneumatic hard bop swagger of "Eff-Time" and "Turns To Everything" to the aleatoric meditations "Since Then" and "Close," Jackson and company instill each of these varied pieces with a sense of congenial interplay and cohesive logic. "Maker" and "Word Made Fresh" demonstrate Jackson's debt to past masters; the former tune rides aloft a languid

Ornette Coleman

saxophone, alto
1930 - 2015

" data-original-title="" title="">Ornette Coleman-esque melody, while the later burns with a frenzy reminiscent of

Albert Ayler

saxophone, tenor
1936 - 1970

" data-original-title="" title="">Albert Ayler's ESP-Disk sides. Delving deeper into tradition, "If You Were" abstracts the blues, while "How-A-Low" and the title track wax poetic as supple ballads.

Jackson's vociferous tenor saxophone and pliant bass clarinet are ably complemented by Bishop's garrulous slide work. Together they make a dynamic front-line, their understated ruminations on "How-A-Low" the inverse of the coruscating sheets of sound that dominate "Word Made Fresh." Their muted statements on "Since Then" drift across the threshold of audibility, while "Maker" finds them trading vociferous ideas at the speed of thought.

Roebke and Tanaka are a superlative pair, providing insistent forward momentum to the rubato title track as efficiently as they keep the boppish "Put My Finger On It" in the pocket. Their elastic timing is omnipresent throughout the date, with Roebke's pensive behind the beat phrasing on "If You Were" and Tanaka's vacillating tempo displacements on "Turns To Everything" notable examples of their prowess.

An excellent debut on par with his efforts in Project Project and Fast Citizens, Seeing You See is another magnificent example of the current Chicago jazz scene—traditionally aware, but conceptually forward thinking.

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Track Listing

Maker; If You Were; Put My Finger On It; How-A-Low; Eff-Time; Seeing You See; Turns To Everything; Since Then; Word Made Fresh; Close.

Personnel

Keefe Jackson

saxophone

Keefe Jackson: tenor saxophone, bass clarinet; Jeb Bishop: trombone; Jason Roebke: bass; Noritaka Tanaka: drums.

Album information

Title: Seeing You See | Year Released: 2010 | Record Label: Clean Feed Records

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