Boomslang is a Dutch term for an African tree snake found in central and southern Africa, and it’s also a cool name for Rich Halley’s latest album. The tenor saxophone ace, composer and bandleader was able to make this record months before Covid had shut everything down with his acclaimed acumen fully intact.
Halley’s quartet this time includes the rhythm section he’s had forever: Clyde Reed on bass and son Carson Halley on drums. The new little wrinkle this time comes from Halley’s latest frontline partner, LA-based cornet player Dan Clucas. The album is a mixture between of Halley-written material and group improvisations, and both approaches work equally well, partly because improvisation is deeply seeded into anything they play.
Among the composed pieces, “Northern Plains” is paced by Carson’s tribal toms and Halley’s attention-grabbing tenor showcase is stuffed with a lot of Joe Henderson’s vernacular. Clucas plays with forceful sharp edges on his turn and Carson’s own aside precedes a return to the swinging theme.
I dig how Rich Halley works himself into a frenzy and then quickly eases off during “The Drop Off,” followed by Clucas coming out the gate with guns a-blazing as Reed and Carson are closely tracking to the ever-elusive vibe of the song. “The Lean” builds up from Reed’s simple but groovy bass figure as Halley and Clucas slather some meaty patterns on top of it. But’s interesting how Reed keeps making his way back to his original bass figure no matter how far the horn guys stray from it. The lads are also cleverly mixing modern and avant-garde jazz with something more groove-based with “Quintuplify”
The spontaneous numbers go off into multiple directions both unexpected and bewitching. “Corroboration” gets going with Halley and Clucas having a sax/cornet chat and they follow each other down a path that leads to a swinging pulse provided by the Reed/Carson unit, which doesn’t let go while Clucas and Halley exchange energetic solos.
Clucas along with Carson sets the initial tone for “Situational,” and once the other two join in, the quartet acts as if guided together by some invisible force. “Dispholidus” is an extensive spontaneous song where they run through a gamut of ideas with loads of chops.
It’s Halley’s turn to set the tone with “Intermittent” along with Reed’s sawed bass that diffuses the sonics and joins with the sax and cornet in taking a lead role. “The Converse” — as is done throughout this record — pushes modern jazz to its limits and Halley engages with Clucas with their most combustible sparring match of this group of performances.
Rich Halley’s Boomslang is out there now, from Pine Eagle Records.
- Luca Gelli Organ Trio – ‘Shorter Notes’ (2024) - December 28, 2024
- Joe Fonda Quartet – ‘Eyes On The Horizon’ (2024) - December 27, 2024
- Ingebrigt Haker Flaten (Exit) Knarr – ‘Breezy’ (2024) - December 26, 2024
