With two new albums recently released, local tenor saxist Daniel Rotem refuses to sit still. He demonstrated the fertile ground of the local LA jazz scene Friday night by presenting a whole fresh batch of material and a new group augmented by a rich horn section anchored by local hero and pianist John Beasley.
The hour long first set featured Rotem with a front line of Dan Rosenboom/tp, Shai Golan/as and Ido Meshulam/tb capably driven by Beasley and a snappy pair of Alex Boneham/b and Christian Euman/dr. The as-yet unrecorded material included the opening “Kaphar” (meaning “atonement” in Hebrew), with the rich horns gracefully blended together over the pulsating rhythm. Rotem’s warm and rich horn delivered a rich pas de deux with Beasley after a fiery opening salvo by Rosenboom. A meditative unison between Rotem and Beasley created a reverently meditative “Speaking With No Words” as the supporting horns wove a rich tapestry with longing tones, and Rosenboom’s flugelhorn was feathery and fluffy on the ballad “Taking Steps.”
A pastoral arrangement of Thelonious Monk’s “Let’s Cool One” was introduced by Beasley’s touch that felt joyfully weaned on vintage Blue Note Herbie Hancock. His ivories lead into some clever and cool harmonies by the front line suavely driven by the hip stride of Euman’s sticks.
The extra textures of the horns added a visceral dimension to the closing “Look Again” which opened as a serenely swinging piece before as each horn passed the solo baton like sprinters through a series of choruses before finally reaching celebratory climax of a close.
One of the charms of the new generation of jazz artists is that they have returned to an emphasis of melody, a forgotten art at times, while still retaining fire in the belly. Rotem and his ideas, both new and newer, were shown to be worth exploring this drizzly night in Little Tokyo.
Upcoming shows at the Blue Whale include Peter Bernstein-Bill Stewart-Larry Goldings 01/19-20, Gilad Hekselman 01/25, Josh Nelson 01/30 and Mike Gurrola 01/31