Go-Round

Jeff Coffin's second Compass release features his Mu'tet with Tom Giampietro on drums, Chris Walters on piano, and Derek Jones on acoustic bass. Coffin himself plays tenor, alto, and soprano saxophones, clarinet and bass clarinet, and on the album's brief introduction, double wood flutes. The Nashville-based Coffin also recruits special guests, displaying a penchant for unusual sounds and combinations, like Tracy Silverman's six-string viola on "Tuesday's Waterloo" and "Zuleikha" and Pat Bergeson's bass harmonica on "Tall and Lanky." Trumpeter Rod McGaha and trombonist Roy Agee also provide some unexpected twists: soprano sax and trombone harmonize on "Playin' the Worm" (based loosely, it seems, on John Coltrane's arrangement of "Inchworm"), while bass clarinet and trumpet state the melody of "Multa et Mira" in a tight unison. Chris Walters briefly switches to accordion for "As in the Beginning"; his interaction with Coffin's clarinet brings to mind the music of Ted Nash & Odeon. Coffin's tenor work at times recalls Joe Lovano, and on the ballads, a bit of Charles Lloyd. He's clearly influenced by the writing of Ornette Coleman and Eric Dolphy, but he also acknowledges his debt to Dewey Redman and Abdullah Ibrahim on tunes named for each of them. ~ David R. Adler, Rovi