My review of Saxophone Summit (Joe Lovano/Dave Liebman/Ravi Coltrane) Visitation, today at All About Jazz.

After two recordings for Telarc—2004's Gathering of Spirits, with the late Michael Brecker, and 2008's Seraphic Light, with Ravi Coltrane assuming the position vacated by Brecker following his untimely passing the previous year—Saxophone Summit is back with Visitation. Funded by the (for jazz) early crowd-funding ArtistShare imprint, it demonstrates the difference between recording for a relatively major label and one where the group can, it seems, call all the shots.

Not that the previous recordings were in any way artistic compromises—Seraphic Light was already a more experimental recording than the slightly more centrist Gathering of Spirits—but the differences on Visitation are many, even as the group retains the unmistakable collective sound of its members, in particular the front line that, in addition to Coltrane, also features Dave Liebman and Joe Lovano—a triple threat if ever there was one.

While the sextet's previous recordings featured compositions from all the front line members, in addition to occasional contributions from pianist Phil Markowitz, bassist Cecil McBee and drummer Billy Hart, there were also significantly reworked versions of music from John Coltrane's vast repertoire that helped to define the underlying premise of the group. This time it's all-original and totally egalitarian all the way, with Visitation's six tracks representing one each from Saxophone Summit's six members. The spirit of Coltrane cannot help but loom over this saxophone-heavy group, but this time it's less overt, even as Saxophone Summit delivers its freest album yet, one where almost every tune eschews time, changes...or sometimes both.

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