After making four solid, post-bop jazz records with vibes specialist Behn Gillece, tenor sax man Ken Fowser has stepped out on his own to make a solid, post-bop jazz record. Standing Tall, released on January 15, 2016 (Posi-Tone Records), puts Fowser in another small combo setting, where Gillece’s vibes are replaced by Josh Bruneau’s trumpet in the role as Fowser’s main foil. Completing the combo are some other highly competent players: Rick Germanson on piano, Paul Gill on standup bass and Jason Tiemann on drums.
Fowser wrote all of the tunes, and they are faithfully in the style of classic Blue Note. That, combined with the usual Posi-Tone warm, unblemished production puts Standing Tall in a space shared by Wayne Shorter’s The Soothsayer or Horace Silver’s The Jody Grind. The old school chops are there, too.
That starts, naturally, with the leader. Fowser’s tone and delivery is a big bag of soul, a throwback to the Dexter Gordons and Johnny Griffins of the 50s and 60s who could carry out joyful and sorrowful human emotions so artfully on a tenor sax, and do so without seeming to even try. Fowser is one of a few in the current crop who places great value in those abilities. He can get fetchingly lyrical on the breezy waltz “Lucid Dreaming,” sad and blue on the slow walking “Filling In The Blanks” or slash through quicksilver bop changes without missing a beat on “Mode For Red.”
The other guys ain’t slouches either and Fowser gives Bruneau and Germanson plenty of quality solo time, often arranging tunes with a head, followed by the three soloing in tandem, followed by a restatement of the head. Tiemann is a dynamic drummer who isn’t content to merely keep time. He adds pizzazz to tunes like the lively 6/8 he puts down on “Off The Path” or the nuanced snare and tom work on “The Fade Away.” Gill, meanwhile, makes sure it all swings the way it supposed to swing.
We already knew from his recordings with Behn Gillece that Ken Fowser has the goods as a saxophonist and composer; Standing Tall, his debut as sole leader, further confirms those things.
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