Marc Copland Greg Osby

Item: Night Call
Author: Jeff Cebulski

Night Call

(2004)

Reviewed by Jeff Cebulski

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Label Nagel HeyerThe Phantom Tollbooth2005

experimental jazz

The German label nagel heyer has two sides: the ultra-traditional bourgeois (for its aging European listeners) and the more modernistic, slightly experimental. The second tends to feature some of the better modern U.S. jazz players. One of the label's better efforts of 2004 featured keyboardist Marc Copland and the seemingly ubiquitous saxophonist Greg Osby. Osby, who had his own decent album Public for Blue Note, is a player who has gained respect for his willingness to investigate varying forms and approaches over a two-decade recording career. On Night Call, the two merge on eight original improvisations and one interpretation. With Osby, you can always hear him thinking his way through a solo, evoking audio images of Sonny Rollins and Stan Getz while marking the music with his own off beat, note-holding nuances. In this case, with the erudite Copland at the helm, we get to hear how the young star juxtaposes his bop intuition with the more classical bent of the veteran. The result is musical interplay that never has too much space but is brilliantly paced and balanced--two musicians who want to make it work.