Label: AFAR Music, 2021

Personnel - Greg Ward: alto saxophone; Rajiv Halim: alto saxophone; Sharel Cassity: alto saxophone; Richard Johnson: piano; Jeremiah Hunt: bass; Michael Piolet: drums.

The brand-new Chicago-based sextet Altoizm! is spearheaded by three alto saxophonists of unbound talent: Greg Ward, Rajiv Halim and Sharel Cassity. The rhythm section that paves the way for these avid soloists is composed of pianist and music director Richard Johnson, bassist Jeremiah Hunt and drummer Michael Piolet.

The album seems intended as a celebration of tradition, and the collective harnesses its energy into rapid-fire soloing and tight interplay. As an illustration of what was said, the opening piece, “Cedar Groove”, glorifies the chord changes of Cedar Walton’s “Ugetsu” (a.k.a. “Fantasy in D”), whose incredible bounce had its peak in 1963 with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. Cassity penned this version with succinct Latin digressions and a new melody that propagates in unison. She maintains a similar mood and groove on “Thoroughbred”, whose swinging hard-bop is in reliance on the harmonic progression of Benny Golson’s “Stablemates”.

Halim’s bluesy “Bembe’s Kid” presents us with another magnetic groove drawn from a sub-Saharan African rhythm. Johnson’s adroit comping comes to the surface here and his improvisation is filled with lush and drive. The pianist brought two pieces into the album: the sensitive 4/4 ballad “The Time Has Come” and the brazen “Last Minute”, which bursts with searing horn exchanges over a swinging tapestry.

Ward’s “John Cotton” is a fiercely propulsive 2x16-bar fantasy in 3/4 with strong accentuations and an exuberantly happy disposition.

Only occasionally going beyond the expectable, the group shows to have both the compactness and dynamism required to belt out energy-filled tunes affiliated with past and present.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Cedar Groove ► 02 - Bembe’s Kids ► 07 - Last Minute