The only things that went wrong Thursday were a worst-possible-time rain storm; a last minute venue change from Jay Square outdoors into Robb Alley at Proctors; a siren-noisy, flashing-lights fire drill and a lot of rambunctious crowd noise.
But, no problem: hard bop uplift by Terry Gordon’s Quintet simply overcame.
Band and crew set up efficiently; with amps only for Joe Finn’s guitar and Lou Smaldone’s double bass. Drummer Pete Sweeney, saxophonist Eric Walentowicz and leader-trumpeter/flugelhorn player Gordon played on the natch, without PA. Again, no problem – their balance was superb from when Gordon gave the downbeat at 12:25 and the guys charged into “Configuration.”
Playing all originals can be a nervy move, especially after delays and as a theater-school class flowed into Apostrophe on a noisy break. The bluesy bop of “Configuration” got over anyway, an assemblage of abrupt hard-edged riffs that resolved into an upbeat ending.
The slower “Looking In” earned its introspective title in a thoughtfully brooding start. Gordon played flugelhorn (like a trumpet that needs to go on a diet, with a lower range), as Walentowicz blended in his tenor sax at first but switched to soprano for his solo, a compelling meditation that set up tasty breaks by Finn and Gordon as they built a sunnier mood than at the start.
“Homeward Bound,” on the other hand, started happy and stayed there, Walentowicz’s soprano echoing Gordon’s trumpet near the open, then later flying free and high.
Gordon’s trumpet opened alone in “Quarantine” (a Covid tune, as he explained), before Walentowicz’s tenor commented and went further outside; further, that is, until Gordon went raspy in his own solo before playing clean and clear again.
From those fireworks, they eased into the alert mellow calm of “Until Then,” tender flugelhorn and tenor sax effective in this ballad change of pace.
Changing the mood and dynamic yet again, they surged back into hard-bop heat for “Amagalgatorium,” powered, and that’s the right word, by rhythm fire. Smaldone and Sweeney were rocks at all times, and here they paved a fast funk highway for everybody to follow, Finn joining the fun by emphatically thumbing chords. For contrast, the rhythm section laid out for tasty two-horn interludes in the middle and at the end. Fine interplay here, too; trumpet with guitar, alto sax with bass, then Sweeney took a strong solo and it all came home.
The blues-swing of “Noname” (like salami or edamame) led off with bold trumpet echoed by tenor riffs, a brief conversation that opened into succeeding heads-up excursions.
Slower and softer flowed “Flowers That Beckon,” so soft that when photographer Rudy Lu sneezed in his front-row seat, Sweeney looked up from his drums to say “Bless you.” Quiet laughs all around. Playing mainly on toms, with mallets, Sweeney popped a more assertive groove as Gordon conducted a correction to the blend, then his flugelhorn pumped the melody hard as he revved everybody to follow.
Of course, “Knot So Fast” was an ironic title, another full-flight, speedy hard-bop blitz, a burst of smart adrenaline that melted away to let Sweeney’s drums carry the groove before horns and guitar took over.
There’s a good reason these guys – whom Gordon recruited to play his originals in this quintet – are in such demand. Skilled individually, they know how to cook together and cruise at any tempo, to blend and burst out into space.
Finn returns to Jazz on Jay on Thursday, Aug. 15 with his trio. Singer Maggie MacDougall’s Bossamba follows on Aug. 22; then Joe Barna wraps the series on Aug. 29.
Set List
Configuration
Looking In
Homeward Bound
Quarantine
Until Then
Amalgamatorium
Noname
Flowers that Beckon
Knot So Fast
Hoke's Jukebox 