Tenor saxophonist and composer Sam Crockatt’s bands have a sure-footed spontaneity that makes his studio work sound as if it’s recorded live, and give the mainstream jazz roots of his compositions an unruly edginess. The songs stir echoes of bandleaders as different as Sonny Rollins, Joe Lovano and the late Stan Tracey. The current Crockatt quartet comprises pianist Kit Downes, bassist Oli Hayhurst and drummer James Maddren, and Downes’ and Maddren’s partnership in the pianist’s own trio clearly injects a special vibrancy into this session. The interweaving sax, piano and bass motif of Canon turns from supple polyphony to brisk swing; I Found You in the Jam is an intimate bass and drums dialogue that turns into an engagingly lurching Django Batesian rhapsody; and the title track is a zigzagging flyer that moves from a bustling Maddren intro to a storming, Paul Bley-ish piano flight. Breath is statuesque, wistfully reverential, and imaginatively harmonised. A Stroll on the Knoll, meanwhile, has the hooky punch of a Joe Lovano vehicle. Mells Bells further burnishes Crockatt’s substantial reputation.
