Label: Outside in Music, 2025
Personnel - Boyce Justice Griffith: tenor and soprano saxophone; Anthony Harvey: trumpet; Isaiah J. Thompson: piano; Marty Jaffe: bass; John Sturino: drums.
The Point is the latest release from saxophonist and composer Boyce Justice Griffith, featuring the same unit that shaped Turning In, his previous outing. With this conceptual work, Griffith urges listeners to seek truth by returning to their core values.
“The Two Fish” demonstrates a firm grasp of modal jazz, echoing with longitudinal bass conduction and enhanced with prayerful soprano sax lines articulated with heart, soul, and range. This opening track is rivaled only by the title cut, which appears in four different versions, each evoking a peculiar atmosphere. “The Point-Part One” features expressive unison melodies within a post-bop frame, imbued with enough swing to buoy trumpeter Anthony Harvey’s solo. “The Point-Part Two” occurs in the classic piano trio format—with pianist Isaiah J. Thompson giving it a modal intonation leveled by the lilting flow of bassist Marty Jaffe and drummer John Sturino. In “The Point-Part Three”, Griffith is at the helm of melody, delivering an exuberant improvisation.
In a compulsory swing, “The State of Being” is an uptempo hard-bop-infused piece that pays honor to the vibrant energy of the 1950s. Another clear nod to the genre comes in “Something to Prove”, where the swaggering main statement launches into an improvisational excursion featuring sinewy solos from the front-line players, followed by the pianist. The group cools the fire with “The Walk,” but its majestic horn-driven theme still inspires steamy solos.
Griffith’s compositional strategies are efficiently assimilated by his associates, and in “Balrog”—a reference to Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings—it’s Jaffe who begins and ends the journey with his muscular, blues-inflected pizzicato. Before his solo, a 4/4 modal sequence heats the soul with its intensity. The album would not be complete without “Isolation”, a ballad motivated by heavy snowfall, where the gravitas of bowed bass contrasts with high-pitched soprano flights.
With life’s purpose and direction at its core, The Point finds Griffith commanding his sound with narrative straightforwardness, eschewing any type of shrieks or wild cheers. It is a grounded, thoughtful album that reflects his deep passion for jazz in both its traditional and modern forms.
Favorite Tracks:
01 - The Two Fish ► 07 - The Walk ► 09 - The Point-Part Three