One of the lost arts in modern jazz sax playing is the bold, big and bodacious sounds in the line of Sonny Rollins, Gato Barbieri and Michael Brecker. You know what I mean: a 3 inch steak of meat, lots of fat and flavor, not needing any seasoning. Straight, no chaser.
Melbourne-based tenor saxist Richard Pavlidis takes that Olympic baton like the true Greek that he is, mixing modern harmonies and flavors with the timeless testosteroned tone of his horn. Playing also a bit of EWI as accentuations, as well as keyboards, he teams up with Owen Downie/eb, James Bowers/p, Darryn Farrugia/dr, Salvador Persico/perc and Angus Leslie/g for a collections that are confident and courageous.
His tenor is almost palpable on the dark and bold “Persona” as he rides the rhythmic crest like a long boarder. He saunters over Persico’s simmering rivulet on “Figure of Eight” and is warm and relaxed with Bowers’ Hancock stylings during the lyrical “The Enigma of the Day”. His EWI work gives a dash of vintage Weather Report on the blue haze of “Mirrors” and the accentuated “Straight and Narrow”. If this guy ever comes out from Down Under, let me know!