The psychology of listening to a group of unknowns plus a “known” guest is interesting, isn’t it?
It is a frequent phenomenon in efforts by labels to gently embed a new name into the stubborn consciousness of an oblivious public.
The tactic says a few things. Mainly it’s a kind of reassurance that is more than a testimonial or reference on a job application.
It is a leg up, a show of support and also a display of humility by the master musician.
The older, more famous, guest is after all putting their reputation on the line.
And that guest in question here is saxophonist Chris Cheek.
Confining himself to soprano the American who is 57, hails from St Louis, Missouri and played extensively with Paul Motian in the 1990s. He has appeared on a lot of highly rewarding records down the years, an appealingly questing modernistic sour texture to his tonality just one facet of his limber playing persona.
These go back to the 1990s.
They include his own albums for Fresh Sound New Talent I Wish I Knew. And then even better there’s A Girl Named Joe that had not only Mark Turner on it whose sound is similar but Bass Desires legend Marc Johnson in tow as well as guitar icon Ben Monder.
More recently Cheek’s guest appearance on UK based Austrian guitarist Hannes Riepler’s album Wild Life worked very well indeed. I loved it in 2016.
Fresh Sound have a thing about issuing records made in Basel. There have been a few recently. And this is the latest.
Tunes are by the tenor saxist Marçal Perramon. It’s essentially an acoustic quartet core. And besides Cheek other guests crop up who add trumpet and guitar.
Overall Waiting is convincing as a statement. But it’s generic like a lot of quality 21st century versions of 20th century progressive hard bop. And so this isn’t a complete end in itself. That’s not a big issue.
But to break through the barrier of being able to define a sound rather than emulate a style is a bigger aim that can “wait” – the operative word here – for another day.
‘Omen’ I liked overall most for its theme. ‘El dubte i tu’ – Catalan for “the doubt and you” – is memorable for its Jazz Messengers-esque sax-trumpet head. That fizzes with atmosphere and sets the piece up vibrantly.
‘Two More Days‘ with Cheek on soprano saxophone, the straight horn he uses on the three tracks that he is involved with, is an ideal, bustling opener to this late-January 2024 recording just issued.
Cheek dominates the opening half of the album. But when he isn’t on tracks does the album stack up as well? Pretty much, but I don’t like the sonics on ‘Last and Lost’ so much, the weakest of all the tracks.
We get to hear trumpeter Álvaro Ocón a bit more on ‘Reiniciar’. And there’s also strong bass soloing from Joan Codina on ‘Cel.’
Perramon grew up in Barcelona. There he developed his skills playing with the Sant Andreu Jazz Band under the direction of Joan Chamorro. He enrolled at the Superior School of Music of Catalonia (ESMuC – the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya) in 2017. At ESMuc he studied jazz performance with Eladio Reinón and Gorka Benítez. In 2021 he moved to Basel. In Switzerland he then pursued a master’s degree in Performance and Production at JazzCampus (FHNW – Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz) with professors including the aforementioned Turner and Cheek.
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