Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Glenn Kostur: The Way of It

Glenn Kostur: The Way of It

By Jack Bowers
November 19, 2017
View read count

Glenn Kostur

saxophone, alto

" data-original-title="" title="">Glenn Kostur, a woodwind specialist who can play anything from piccolo to bass saxophone, limits himself to tenor and baritone on The Way of It, a genial session recorded in June 2017 in Greeley, CO, on which Kostur enlists faculty members from the University of Northern Colorado as his back-up team.

Kostur, who once toured and recorded with the legendary trumpeter

Maynard Ferguson

trumpet
1928 - 2006

" data-original-title="" title="">Maynard Ferguson, has a nice day gig of his own as director of Jazz Studies at the University of New Mexico. On this busman's holiday, he and his mates cruise confidently through a half-dozen of his engaging compositions along with evergreens by

Eddie Heywood

piano
1915 - 1989

" data-original-title="" title="">Eddie Heywood ("Canadian Sunset"),

Horace Silver

piano
1928 - 2014

" data-original-title="" title="">Horace Silver ("Quicksilver") and

McCoy Tyner

piano
1938 - 2020

" data-original-title="" title="">McCoy Tyner ("You Taught My Heart to Sing"), closing with Samuel Ward / Katherine Bates' "America the Beautiful."

Kostur's music is thematic in that he writes with specific images in mind. For example, the New Orleans-grooved "Romp and Run" (based, one suspects, on "Sweet Georgia Brown") was written for his hyperactive dog, Hildegard, and the shapely ballad "Ella" for the family cat, who in turn was named for a well-known singer, surname Fitzgerald. The gospel-inflected "Gather the Spirits," he writes, is no spiritual but rather "a celebration of rounding up the ingredients for cocktails," while "Everything Is Canceled" was inspired by a bumper sticker, "That's the Way of It" by his mother's pet expression when faced with life's realities. Kostur dedicates his arrangement of Tyner's "You Taught My Heart" to his wife, Kathy.

Kostur plays baritone sax on seven numbers, tenor on the other three. As one would assume, he is adept and at ease on either one. One of his saxophone heroes, he says, is the late

Nick Brignola

saxophone, baritone
1936 - 2002

" data-original-title="" title="">Nick Brignola, and there is more than a touch of Brignola in Kostur's sharp and limber baritone. As for his colleagues, they are stalwart in support and perceptive when soloing, especially pianist Dana Landry whose snappy ad libs rival the leader's in sagacity and import. Together, they flatten the axiom that those who can't, teach. These gentlemen can—and do. Bassist

Erik Applegate

bass
b.1966

" data-original-title="" title="">Erik Applegate and drummer

Jim White

drums
b.1969

" data-original-title="" title="">Jim White make sure the rhythm smokes, as does guitarist

Steve Kovalcheck

guitar

" data-original-title="" title="">Steve Kovalcheck on four tracks.

As small-group sessions go, The Way of It is ship-shape and eminently seaworthy. Whether that is enough to keep it afloat in a veritable ocean of comparable enterprises remains to be seen.

Glenn Kostur: baritone, tenor saxophone; Steve Kovalcheck: guitar (1, 3, 4, 7, 8); Dana Landry: piano; Erik Applegate: acoustic, electric bass; Jim White: drums.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

That��s the Way of It; Canadian Sunset; Gather the Spirits; Quicksilver; A Longer Table; You Taught My Heart to Sing; Romp and Run; Ella; Everything Is Canceled; America the Beautiful.

Personnel

Glenn Kostur

saxophone, alto

Album information

Title: The Way of It | Year Released: 2017 | Record Label: Artist Alliance Records

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Pat Metheny at Belfast Waterfront
< Previous

Trouble No More - The Bootleg Series...
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.