Quartet in Concert

Alto saxophonist and composer Noah Howard was a young upstart when he recorded his ESP-Disk debut in 1966, joined by drummer Dave Grant, bassist Scott Holt (a frequent confrere of altoist Jackie McLean), and British expatriate trumpeter Ric Colbeck on four original compositions. There’s a harried quality to “Henry’s Street,” a darting and incisive paean to the Lower East Side that captures the bustling energy of East Coast free music. Holt and Colbeck are very strong players, with the former’s tone and dexterity holding forth in an unaccompanied solo; the more obscure Grant is fleet and reminiscent of Rashied Ali. The preachy “Apotheosis” is rendered in two takes and is an early instance of one of Howard’s favored compositional devices, the Creole blues march. The composer’s slashing alto flywheel might overstep the bar lines, but its purposive exuberance more than makes up for any raggedness on this auspicious debut.