With Sonny Rollins retired from playing, the title of “Best Tenor Sax” is up for grabs. Here are a couple young bucks.
Tucker Antell has a warm and thick sound with an open wide vibrato as he teams up for a grooving organ quintet/quartet with carl Eisman/g, Jake Sherman/B3, Lee Fish/dr and Jason Palmer/tp. The team is crisp and fun with the double horn lead on Thelonious Monk’s “I Mean You” while getting into a gospel boogie on the shuffling “Home Stretch” with the horns forming an elegiac mood on “Rae.” Antel’s horm is sensuous as the Hammond creates warm embers during “The Hive” and the team creates rich blue hues on the title track. Would love to see these guys in concert!
Jarod Bufe plays it muscular on a spacious quartet outing with Tim Stine/g, Matt Ulery/b and Jon Deitemyer/dr. Bufe does an impressive arm wrestle with Deitmyer on the duet “The Journey” with wondrous sparks flying, while the drummer’s ride cymbal coaxes the pulse on a percolating “Begin Again” and a gently cadenced “basement Reality.” Bufe works his way adroitly through the spaces created by Stine and Ulery on “Climbing” and the team is sleek and p olished as they glide through “Pushing Back the Darkness.” Bufe composed all the material, and it’s uniformly enjoyable. Check him out!