Chris Speed - Really OK (2014)

Saxophonist/clarinetist Chris Speed's two decades descent into New York City's underground jazz realm has proven a multi-pronged mission. Not only has myriad groups he's either led or assumed membership in been vital in levitating the local scene but the multireedist has also helped document the innovators roiling the landscape via his Skirl Records imprint. Speed had a banner year in 2013: a collaboration with intrepid electro-acoustic trio Lama (Lamaçal, Clean Feed); another set of intertwining wizardry from Endangered Blood (Work Your Magic, Skirl); rock/jazz hybrid of Jim Black's AlasNoAxis (Antiheroes, Winter & Winter) and post-jazz sprawl of The Claudia Quintet (September, Cuneiform). Now, in these early days of 2014, it turns out Speed has wasted nary a minute in both further highlighting his craft and imprint, equipped with not just a single release, but a pair of disparate recordings. Speed's modus operandi has long been underscored by his effortless penchant for mellifluous phraseology mated to tasteful improvisational moxie and on Really OK, he runs that gamut - and then some. Leading a trio of bassist Chris Tordini (Tyshawn Sorey; Greg Osby) and drummer Dave King (The Bad Plus), the results are decidedly striking in their spirited, full-toned and deep resonance. Speed's immaculate rapport with his oft collaborator King has already been rooted on efforts by the drummer's Trucking Company ensemble and in duo settings (a particular raucous set last year at Barbès comes to mind) and Really OK - comprised of seven original Speed compositions, a standard ( All of Me ), plus tunes by John Coltrane ( 26-2 ) and Ornette Coleman ( Round Trip ) - illustrates that vernacular between the veteran twosome and the neophyte Tordini. The requisite term often attached to Speed's aesthetic has been described as warm but in assuming the leader role and ignited by Tordini and King s rambunctious oomph and the bass-drums clinic they dish out, the tenor saxophonist is anything but. Excluding the subtle rendition of All of Me , the trio boasts intense rhythmic fire on cuts such as the Tordini-King-dominated Nimble Demons , soul-searching epic Delaware and breathless energy music of Argento . --The New York City Jazz Record