By Gary Chapin
Keefe Jackson is someone on my “notice” list. Whenever the Chicagoan puts anything out or broadcasts a live performance I make sure to hear it. His sax and compositional voice put him squarely in my sweet spot for listening: the sort of “loft aesthetic” exemplified by the amazing Studio Rivbea and the Wildflowers record series that documented it. Jackson—and his compatriots on this record, bassist Jakob Heinemann and percussionist Adam Shead—would have been right at home in that scene. Stinger, the trio’s new recording on Irritable Mystic Records, is glorious stuff.
To focus on some specifics: the track “12345” is propulsive, riding on a syncopated bass/drum riff, with bass clarinet playing the role of storyteller. The whole piece comes to a short pause, a stuttering interlude, some right angle melody options, then off to the races again. “Gun Shy” begins with a slow crawl evocative of Eric Dolphy, deep and languorous with suspiciously wide intervals. It’s like an instrumental noir, action and chaos bracketed by sleepy reflection about how the whole situation may be fakakta, but at least it’s my situation. A few tracks later we get “God of the Fickle,” a swinging thing with bass and drums stringing their ebullience under the tenor’s knowingly good natured solo. It may be that I’m reacting to these too cinematically, but that’s my idea of a good time. In a way this trio brings to mind the fabled Thomas Chapin Trio, which swung hard and skronched hard.
The compositions are split evenly between Jackson and Heinemann each contributing four, with one additional by Bobby Bradford and another by John Tchicai. The opening piece, by Heinemann, “Regent,” starts with an intriguing minimal, chromatic melody with a blowout bridge that sets the pace for the improv that follows, tenor goodness with a shimmering excess of fast percussion and bass surrounding it all. One thing I love about a trio in “this kind of music” is how they have an equality of place, each has autonomy within the mix to shape the beast. The coda of this relatively short piece (!) goes into a kaiju-stomping moment that is *chef’s kiss.” Like I said, glorious stuff.