The Washington Post
Innovative Horns Of Snidero, Hagans
REGARDLESS OF their commercial fate, the new albums by saxophonist Jim Snidero and Trumpeter Tim Hagans will go down as breakthrough recordings that allowed each of them to move beyond standard fare.
Snidero's "Urban Tales," his first release composed
entirely of original material, is an evocative series of vignettes of
city life, varied in mood yet consistently distinguished by the cohesive
interplay of an exceptional quintet that includes trumpeter Tom Harrell,
pianist Marc Copland, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Jeff Hirshfield.
The combination of Harrell's fluegelhorn and Copland's impressionistic
touch ensures plenty of lyricism, something that Snidero gracefully conjures
as well on the aptly titled "Oblique Street" and the pensive
"Alone in the Crowd," but several of the album's highlinghts
find the band in a much more expansive and vibrant frame of mind.
Likewise, Hagan's "No Words" skillfully evokes a variety of moods, images and erasvia the boppish title track, the funky, Lee Morgan-inspired "Noogaloo" and the Miles Davis, fusion era-influenced "Immediate Left," which finds Marc Copland playing a Fender Rhodes and saxophonist Joe Lovano volatile and restless. By contrast, guitarist John Abercrombie's often ambiguous harmonies contribute to the albums's haunting allure on "For The Music" and other tracks, but the most haunting performance of all is the Hagans/Copland duet homage to Count Basie, Red Garland and Juan Tizol, called "Passing Giants."
-Mike Joyce
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