Michael Feinberg - Blues Variant

Label: Criss Cross Jazz, 2023

Personnel - Noah Preminger: tenor saxophone, flute; Leo Genovese: piano, keyboards; Michael Feinberg: bass; Nasheet Waits: drums + Dave Liebman: soprano saxophone, flute (#5-7);

Boasting two great saxophonists in the frontline of his energizing group, bassist/composer Michael Feinberg can make his elected moods range from portentous to puerile. The horn players are the exciting tenorist Noah Preminger and the accomplished sopranist Dave Liebman. Both had joined him on From Where We Came (Steeplechase, 2020), but here they expand timbral possibilities by adding flute. Argentinian keyboardist Leo Genovese is a regular collaborator, having played on his debut The Elvin Jones Project (Sunnyside, 2012) as well as on the enlivening Hard Times (Fresh Sound, 2021). The novelty here is the distinguished drummer Nasheet Waits who successfully pairs up with the bassist over the course of ten tracks.

Blues Variant is launched with the title track, a spectacular blues exercise carrying a buoyant latin pulse and odd meter signature (13/4). There’s plenty of exuberance and plasticity coming out of the piano solo, in which Genovese dances in and out with an obstinate oblique drive. He goes through it again on the great “Saqqara”, a modal, Middle Eastern-influenced piece in 5/4 that turns to swinging motion to better serve Preminger’s authoritative statement. Before that, there’s imaginative flute fantasy.

The aforementioned numbers are Feinberg’s but there’s a fine rendition of Herbie Hancock’s mercurial and ever-swinging “The Eye of the Hurricane”, which arrives steeped bluesy configurations and features Liebman in a melodically engaging solo that zigzags with laser precision. “The Water Spirit Brought Us, The Water Spirit Will Take Us Home” is a Feinberg composition inspired by Liebman’s waltzes of the ‘70s and ‘80s. The piece has a particularly exciting Preminger solo stacked with Coltranean bends. 

The bandleader is in evidence on the latter piece, but he further shines unaccompanied on “Improvisation (for Leslie)”. After “Cycle Song”, in which electric bass and Fender Rhodes pavements refreshingly grounds it in smooth crossover territory, the album comes to an end with “Year of the Ox”, a recipient of a groovy Afro-Cuban pulse, quirky melodies and an acute sense of harmony.

In the space of four recordings, Feinberg has established himself as a resolute bandleader and composer in the traditional sense, who likes to infuse his tunes with rhythmic sustenance.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Blues Variant ► 02 - Saqqara ► 05 - The Eye of the Hurricane