After a brief stint with Blue Note, Lonnie Plaxico quietly released this fine live date in 2002 on his
own label, PlaxMusic. It consists of highlights of two sets he cut with his band (featuring trumpeter
Alex Norris, tenorist Marcus Strickland, pianist George Colligan, and drummer Nat Townsley) earlier
that year while at the 5:01 Jazz Bar in Columbus, Ohio.
The recording quality leaves something to be desired, but the disc compensates in the form of
some of the most exciting ensemble jazz recorded live in recent memory. The music is
simply bashin' from start thru finish; certainly the youngbloods on board have something to do with
the high energy. So too of course though does the very frenetic, hyperfunkified nature of Lonnie
Plaxico's music; laser-fire horn parts blast over rumbling ostinatos and the completely pungent drum
fills of Nat Townsley (Zawinul Syndicate).
The tunes included on this live date read like a "best-of" from Lonnie's two previous
records as a leader, Emergence (Savant, 2000) and Melange (Blue Note, 2001).
Staple set pieces "Delusion" and "Red Light District" are executed with
panache and a palpable take-no-prisoners attitude. Indeed, Lonnie's crew blows hard on each and
every track, and if you could possibly fault anything here, it's that stretching out is a given--thereby
three tracks on the record stretch over 10 minutes apiece.
Trumpeter Alex Norris is especially brilliant in his tight air-channel hijinx here. He crafts solos that
have both serious "jazz" rhythmic conviction, and yet an almost baroque sense of
articulation. Also worth note is Marcus Strickland, who does a most sincere justice to John
Coltrane's styling of "Too Young to Go Steady" in a ballad feature. (Strickland evidently
didn't know when he played his solo here that he was too young to be sounding this mature.)
Lonnie Plaxico has been leading his own band regularly since 2000, and--whether you like his
music or not--it's
undeniable that through his writing and selection of musicians he's developed a rather
individualistic yet clearly jazz-indebted band sound. When so many musicians are content to play 4/
4, bop 'n' standards all night long, this isn't something to take lightly. For fans of Plaxico's recent
music, this is must-have stuff. The man himself has always maintained that his music is really more
of a live phenomenon, and here that hypothesis is confirmed in grand style.
This record is a worthy companion to the Plaxico band's other two records but also holds up as one
of the better live jazz records of the past year.
Visit Lonnie Plaxico and PlaxMusic on the web at
www.lonnieplaxico.com
~ G.D. Cox
