P.J. Perry, far-flung pals produce beautiful live set
P.J. Perry Quartet
Alto Gusto — Live At The Yardbird Suite
(Cellar Live) Google Translate claims Alto Gusto is Italian for “high taste” and that pretty much sums up this seemingly effortless hour of hip jazz. Reedman P. J. Perry has made some fine studio recordings, but hearing him in the company of his peers live on stage offers an experience that’s hard to match.
When the saxophonist pulled together scattered friends — Los Angeles pianist Jon Mayer, Toronto bassist Steve Wallace, and Michigan-born drummer Quincy Davis — for two nights last May at the Yardbird Suite, they knew each other from past experience, but had never worked as one band together before. Either way, it sounds as if they were used to doing so every night.
There’s nothing unexpected in the repertoire, just solid midtempo bop tunes with a swinging flavour like Benny Golson’s Stablemates and Charlie Parker’s Quasimodo, or the lovely lesser known John Hicks number After The Morning. Everyone finds their moment to shine, but Mayer is an especially effective foil in setting up superb backdrops for Perry’s deceptively casual genius.
It wouldn’t be complete without one achingly beautiful ballad and the 1945 hit We’ll Be Together Again gets a spare treatment that would inspire the most hardened hermit to romantic reveries. Still, for excitement’s sake, it’s the uptempo five-minute take on Two Bass Hit that prompts some of the most amazing inventions from Perry before Wallace’s elastic bass and Davis’ crisp drums take their tight turns.
Special credit to engineer Paul Johnston’s superior ears for making it sound so good, which leads me to wonder, why aren’t more live albums being made at this venue?