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A fresh take on Dan Pratt “Toe The Line”…

http://www.criticaljazz.com/2012/05/dan-pratt-toe-line-posi-tone-2010.html

To toe the line implies a strict adherence to follow the rules. So right away the title is certainly a contradiction in terms but the end result is a remarkable organ quartet that while maintaining that special soulful groove never forgets the lyrical straight ahead sense of urgency with the finished product being a smoker!
For the uninitiated, Pratt’s professional resume includes work with Joe Lovano, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, and the Christian McBride Big Band. While having chops to spare, Pratt is a prolific composer having penned eight of the nine composition on this release. “Houdini” gets the party started with organ phenom Jared Gold and drummer Mark Ferber establishing the groove that has Pratt and trombonist Alan Ferber trading leads. Never content with playing it safe, Pratt’s solo takes a more free jazz turn without every tripping that ever present self indulgent sonic landmine lesser talents seem to find with minimal effort. A unique use of texture here is Jared Gold’s organ serves itself well by providing the bass line on all tunes. “Doppelganger” is certainly worthy of note. The term refers to the double of a living person. Trombonist Alan Ferber may well be Pratt’s musical doppelganger as the chemistry and cohesion displayed throughout the release borders on the uncanny. “Star Crossed Lovers” is the lone cover and presented with panache and style to create a most engaging number for the listener.
Dan Pratt has chops galore. Impressive lyrically driven solos with the ability to free lance where needed, Pratt is the real deal. The addition of Alan Ferber on trombone was a stroke of pure musical genius as two individual players seem to morph into one horn voice. Jared Gold and drummer Mark Ferber are as good as they come. The original compositions from Pratt are inventive and tunes of forward movement while maintaining a healthy respect for tradition. There are a handful of straight ahead acts that are working what some are calling the new sound of straight ahead jazz. To paraphrase Sonny Rollins, ” There is nothing new because of everything is a derivative of something else.” The pseudo-intellectual jazz enthusiast can argue theory and sub genre till they are blue in the face. I will be far too busy listening to Dan Pratt’s Toe The Line and this is certainly the future of modern jazz.
Tenor Saxophonist/Composer Dan Pratt succeeds in combining lyrical melodies with complex rhythm in an elegant fashion to foster a creative music that evolves and mixes together the soulful swing of yesteryear along with the steady swing of today’s most modern sounds.
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Listener’s Notes – From the CD Stack: Gold, DPOQ….

http://markehayes.blogspot.com/2010/08/listeners-notes-from-cd-stack-gold-dpoq.html

Listener’s Notes – From the CD Stack: Gold, DPOQ

by Mark E Hayes
It’s time to pick my favorites from the stack of CD’s that’s been piling up over the summer.  Week-to-week, I receive an awful lot of music to review, so here’s the deal.  Any new release gets a quick hearing on the stereo in the study, which might lead to a full rip onto my laptop, which is followed by a sync to my iPod.  If a new release makes it to the iPod, it means I’m going to be listening to it everywhere.
The one album I queued up most often was organist Jared Gold’s Supersonic (Positone 2010). Gold — the musician, NOT the goth fashion designer— has played with Dan Pratt, Randy Napoleon, and Avi Rothbard, but many people will likely know Gold’s work from guitarist Mark Stryker’s excellent 2007 release, The Chaser.  On Supersonic, Gold roots himself in the classic organ trio combo, with Ed Cherry on guitar and McClenty Hunter on drums.  Every track on the album has its rewards: uptempo numbers are clever and funky, ballads are cool and soulful, and interplay between band members is balanced. I’m sure I’m not alone in my deep appreciation of the opening track, a brisk reworking of John Sebastian’s theme from Welcome Back, Kotter. With an opening like that, Supersonic grabs you from the start and doesn’t let go.  A thoroughly groovy time.

Gold provides support in the second release from the Dan Pratt Organ Quartet, Toe The Line (Positone 2010) , a thoroughly confident second release from the saxophonist’s group, which is rounded out by trombonist Alan Ferber and drummer Mark Ferber.  Powerful and precise, both Pratt and Alan Ferber carry every tune forward with a clear sense of working together, then playing off each other when the moment calls for it.  Gold and Mark Ferber fill the remaining sonic space masterfully — no easy task given the challenging nature of Pratt’s compositions.  The excellent playing aside, what is most remarkable about Toe The Line is the writing.  Aside from the Ellington tune, “The Star Crossed Lovers,” every song is a Pratt composition.  From the angular bebop opening of “Minor Procedure,” to the Monk-ish “Doppelganger,” to the whimsical “Uncle Underpants,”  and to the souful, gorgeous “After,” Pratt has put together a range of songs that leaves little doubt as to the prowess of his songwriting skills. Toe The Line gets better each time you listen — on the strength of the songs.

 

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Traditional jazz gets a modern sound.

www.audaud.com

Dan Pratt Organ Quartet – Toe the Line – Posi-Tone Records PR8059, 59:31 ****:

(Dan Pratt, tenor saxophone; Alan Ferber, trombone; Jared Gold, Hammond B3 Organ;  Mark Ferber, drums)

Dan Pratt has rapidly established himself as a force in the modern jazz movement. In high school, he performed with the Monterey Jazz Festival High School Band, and then attended the Berklee School of Music in Boston. The prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute would also help in developing his performance and composition skills. He has become a fixture in the burgeoning Brooklyn, New York jazz scene, playing with a wide array of accomplished musicians. The Dan Pratt Quartet was formed in 2001.

The latest offering, Toe The Line, is an ambitious, creative step in the maturation of this artist. The nine tacks, including eight original pieces, emphasize the synergy of the quartet, while exploring various sounds, melody and rhythm shifts, and improvisation. The members are able to experiment with different tones and playing styles.

On the opening track, “Houdini”, the drum and organ lay down a groove beat, as the saxophone and trombone play dual lead, and swap solos. There is a sophisticated take on the Ellington-Strayhorn “Star Crossed Lovers” that showcases the two horns in a soft counterpoint, moving into a bluesy ballad, with a whimsical organ background.  Jared Gold’s organ play is featured in many different styles, allowing him to rise to the level of the writing.  He lays down an incandescent solo on the title track, “Toe The Line”, and shows a funky groove feel on “Wanderlust”, and “Minor Procedure”.  Mark Ferber’s drumming is integral in the cohesion of the sound, and his solo on “Uncle Underpants” delivers a ferocious backbeat.

Pratt’s saxophone work is textured on every song. He manages to trade riffs with trombonist, Alan Ferber in a seamless manner. On the hard bop Doppleganger there are energized and smooth trombone solos. The final song, “After”, is a soulful and moody ballad, with a notable saxophone opening solo and church organ accompaniment. The song builds to a harmonious, gospel crescendo that finds the group at its best, again.

TrackList: Houdini; Minor Procedure; Wanderlust; Doppelganger, Star Crossed Lovers; Toe The Line; Stoic; Uncle Underpants; After.

— Robbie Gerson

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31 Days Of Album Reviews #23: Dan Pratt Organ Quartet, “Toe The Line”

burningambulance.wordpress.com

DAN PRATT ORGAN QUARTET

Toe the Line (Posi-Tone)

Tenor saxophonist Dan Pratt has been leading this group for close to a decade; its debut CD,Springloaded, was released in 2003. Toe the Line is the quartet’s first CD on Posi-Tone, a retro-ish label I’ve started to really admire. They focus their attention on groups that mix modernity and classicism, that swing hard and have a feel for the blues but demonstrate a willingness—and sometimes an eagerness—to stretch the boundaries of post-bop. The result is a catalog full of unassuming gems like this one.

In addition to Pratt, this quartet features Alan Ferber on trombone, Jared Gold on organ and Mark Ferber on drums. The absence of a bass player gives the music a jumpy, not-quite-anchored feel that’s emphasized by Ferber’s drums, which are mixed with lots of room sound and a sharply ringing snare. Pratt and Ferber are a tightly bonded team, charging through melodic heads and offering each other intuitive harmonic support. The unison lines of “Doppelgänger,” with Ferber meeting Pratt’s saxophone at the bottom of the trombone’s range, are hypnotic and gripping. Gold’s organ is occasionally more hockey-rink than roadhouse, but at least he’s not a psychedelic explorer like Larry Young; he chugs along beneath the horns, letting them do most of the work and only occasionally erupting. His florid, half-gospel/half-soap opera performance on the ballad “The Star-Crossed Lovers” can’t be overlooked, though, and he totally dominates the title track. And on the closing “After,” which begins with an unaccompanied solo from Pratt, everyone sinks knee-deep into passionate, churchy blowing.

This is a really solid, hard-grooving album featuring excellent performances by four guys who’ve had a long while to get to know each other and figure out not only each player’s individual strengths, but how to combine those in surprising and impressive ways. Toe the Line does anything but. Highly recommended.

1. Do I foresee myself listening to this record again? Oh, yeah.

2. Should you buy this record? Absolutely.

 

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Ralph Bowen, Dan Pratt, Brandon Wright: Posi-Tone strikes gold again

By J Hunter

Traditional jazz does not have to be boring. It does not have to be staid, or re-fried or adhere to a formula concocted in a New Orleans barroom over nine decades ago. A lot of the large labels don’t get that. Fortunately, the creative triumvirate at Posi-Tone Records not only understands this concept, but they practice it in a big way. The label closed out 2009 with solid efforts by saxman Wayne Escoffery with Uptown and drummer David Ashkenazy with Out With It, and they’ve hit the ground running in 2010 with three more great releases.

bowen album coverRalph Bowen
Due Reverence
Posi-Tone Records
2010

Tribute discs have long been thick on the ground in jazz. Compatriots remember a colleague who has gone, and new generations give respect to the legends that showed them the way. But not all inspiration comes from giants; sometimes it’s a teacher, or even a fellow countryman who plays the same instrument but hasn’t got a wing in the hall of fame. The latter categories are the building blocks tenor man Ralph Bowen uses to construct Due Reverence.

The opener, “Less Is More,” begins with guitarist Adam Rogers in the clear, playing beautifully meditative lines that reflect the disc’s title. Bowen and bassist John Patitucci ease themselves into the picture, with Patitucci bowing underneath Bowen’s rich melody line. “Less” crystallizes into a bossa when drummer Antonio Sanchez completes the scene, but the bossa goes modern as Bowen slowly turns up the temperature. He doesn’t blow wild, but his passion for his subject is undeniable, as is the intention in his tenor. Rogers and the rhythm section inject some late-night groove into the final section, proving once again that Rogers can do a lot more than just blow people’s eardrums out with his electric wizardry.

There are only five tracks on Reverence, but when the subject is the people who helped form a career, five can be all that’s needed. Bowen’s finger-snapping blues, “Phil-Osophy,” is named for clarinetist Phil Nimmons, a 1930s bandleader and fellow Canadian, while the tasty “Mr. Scott” and the coda, “Points Encountered,” are respectively dedicated to two of Bowen’s instructors at Rutgers. “Less” was written for guitarist Ted Dunbar, one of the first jazz professors at that institution, and the high-flying “This One’s For Bob” goes out to one of Bowen’s many employers, tenor wizard Bob Mintzer. But once again, the fame of a subject is not what matters here.

What does matter (and what most definitely impresses) is Bowen’s love for each of his subjects. All five tracks are long-form pieces that exude purpose and commitment as each character is “fleshed out” by Bowen and his partners. Trumpeter Sean Jones joins the front line on “Scott,” goosing up the energy with his pure, clean tone as he offers Bowen a shining harmonic foil. The track shows the album might have been even livelier as a quintet date. But then, Due Reverence might not have been as personal—or as eloquent—as it is.

Dan Pratt Organ Quartet
Toe The Line
Posi-Tone Records
2010

Reedman Dan Pratt may be a product of northern California’s wine country, but there’s nothing mellow about the music he’s making. Along with membership in about five New York City big bands, this alumnus of the Monterey Jazz Festival’s High School All-Star Band is also part of the mushrooming music scene on the Brooklyn side of the East River. There’s a real swagger to the jazz coming out of Brooklyn nowadays, and that swagger is one of the reasons why Toe The Line works like a charm.

The off-time boogie, “Houdini,” gives this album a beginning as unique as Pratt’s front-line sound. Trombonist Alan Ferber counters Pratt’s opening melody while Jared Gold’s organ lays the foundation even as it helps lift Pratt’s first solo to the next level. Gold’s fills are as solid as his last name, and Pratt’s lines are juicy, unvarnished and laced with a smoky R&B flavor that’s nothing but fun. Ferber’s following solo keeps the direction but changes the harmonic, making it deeper and rounder. When he and Pratt join up on the head, they launch dueling musical monologues that infuse the closing with a wonderful complexity.

Gold’s own Supersonic (Posi-Tone, 2009) showed potential, but suffered from a shortage of engaging material. Without the burden of leadership, Gold gets down and plays his tail off on Toe The Line. He slashes as he runs on the breakneck “Minor Procedure,” throws John Medeski-like color splashes onto “Wanderlust,” and changes the direction of Pratt’s take on Duke Ellington’s “Star-Crossed Lovers” by supplanting the initial romantic mood with a hopping urban vibe. Ferber’s exploration on “Doppelgänger” is both aggressive and off-kilter, adding to the skewed atmosphere of Pratt’s composition. Conversely, Ferber’s solo on the funked-out “Uncle Underpants” eschews introspection in favor of putting the pedal to the metal.

Put simply, Pratt and Ferber love to “fight,” and take multiple opportunities to throw musical punches at each other in a riveting variation of the Afro-Brazilian dance discipline capoeira. After all the battles and the boogie, the whole quartet comes together for the gospel-flavored blues coda, “After.” It’s a warm tribute to the late Bob Pratt, but while the music is certainly reverent, the passion that fuels the piece (and Pratt’s solo in particular) still shows the swagger that makes Toe The Line great on so many levels.

Brandon Wright
Boiling Point
Posi-Tone Records
2010

Putting veteran musicians behind the subject of a maiden recording can actually attract negative questions. Can the rookie match the quality these heavy players are known for producing? More importantly, were the heavies brought in to mask the rookie’s deficiencies? Fortunately the answers are “Yes” and “No”—in that order—when it comes to Boiling Point, tenor man Brandon Wright’s recording debut.

The collective résumé of Wright’s backup band—(pianist David Kikoski, drummer Matt Wilson, bassist Hans Glawischnig and trumpeter Alex Sipiagin)—would fill several pages, but if Wright was intimidated, there’s no sign of it on the scorching opener, “Free Man.” After a quick call-and-answer with Sipiagin, Wright takes off like a bird for the high end of the tenor’s register. His lines are hot even as they maintain a linear direction, and his lyrical sense is spot-on as Kikoski’s comps and fills offer fine counterpoint. When it’s the pianist’s turn, there’s no transition point from support to soloist—Kikoski simply kicks the comp into a completely different gear and steps to the front like he owns it…which he does for the balance of his solo.

Wright’s chemistry with Kikoski is explosive, with a vibe that’s more colleague-to-colleague than teacher-to-student. Their duet on the first section of Jimmy van Heusen’s “Here’s That Rainy Day” is sensational, and is a logical extension of Kikoski’s pensive in-the-clear opening. Kikoski’s solos on the bossa-bopper, “Castaway,” and “Odd Man Out,” a track reminiscent of trumpeter Miles Davis, are both inspired and inspiring, and Kikoski lays the groundwork for almost every tune on Boiling Point, setting up vamps and foundation figures that are perfect outlet passes for Wright’s melodies. He even helps Wright morph Stone Temple Pilots’ “Interstate Love Song” into a waltz evoking pianist Bill Evans, and that’s a tall, tall order.

Wilson and Glawischnig stay primarily in the background, but that doesn’t mean they’re wallflowers. Wilson is one of the most mesmerizing drummers in jazz, and it’s worth wearing headphones to fully experience his dynamic fills. Glawischnig’s resonant lines snake around Wright on the forlorn “Drift,” and Glawischnig and Kikoski play dueling counters on “Rainy Day.” While Sipiagin provides a pure, bright tone and solid harmony on the melodies, his solos frequently fall short next to Kikoski’s bursting fills. On the other hand, Wright more than holds his own with the veterans, making Boiling Point a satisfying debut and setting a fine baseline for all of Wright’s future recordings.

Tracks and Personnel

Due Reverence

Tracks: Less Is More; This One’s For Bob; Phil-Osophy; Mr. Scott; Points Encountered.

Personnel: Ralph Bowen: tenor sax; Adam Rogers: guitar; John Patitucci: bass; Antonio Sanchez: drums; Sean Jones: trumpet (4).

Toe The Line

Tracks: Houdini; Minor Procedure; Wanderlust; Doppelgänger; Star-Crossed Lovers; Toe The Line; Stoic; Uncle Underpants; After.

Personnel: Dan Pratt: tenor sax; Alan Ferber; trombone; Jared Gold: organ; Mark Ferber: drums.

Boiling Point

Tracks: Free Man; Drift; Odd Man out; Boiling Point; Here’s That Rainy Day; Castaway; Interstate Love Song; You’re My Everything.

Personnel: Brandon Wright: tenor sax; Alex Sipiagin: trumpet; David Kikoski: piano; Hans Glawischnig: bass; Matt Wilson: drums.

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A nice AAJ piece featuring reviews of our latest Organ Jazz releases: Wayne Escoffery “Uptown” and the Dan Pratt Organ Quartet “Toe the Line”….

www.allaboutjazz.com

The State of Organ Jazz 2010, Part I: Wayne Escoffery, Dan Pratt and Matthew Kaminski
By C. Michael Bailey

Organ-based jazz inhabits a unique place as a sub-genre. The combination of the sacred churchy organ with the decadence of blues and bebop made for a heady brew after the introduction of the format by Wild Bill Davis and Bill Doggett in the 1950s. Qualitatively, the names that loom largest in organ jazz are Jimmy Smith, who put organ jazz on the map with his 1960s Blue Note and Verve recordings, and Larry Young, who picked up where Smith left off at Blue Note, propelling organ jazz into the fusion realm with drummer Tony Williams.

Besides being a firebrand, the organ rhythm section offers a grand alternative to piano and guitar setups. It provides an earthy sophistication, a hint of “soul jazz” as rich as bacon fat added to greens. In spring 2010, the market allows for several organ jazz releases of note. Here are three of them coming from Wayne Escoffery, Dan Pratt, and Matthew Kaminski.

Wayne Escoffery
Uptown
Posi-Tone Records
2010

Wayne Escoffery’s previous recordings, Times Change (Nagel Heyer Records, 2001), Intuition (Nagel Heyer Records, 2004), Veneration: Live at Smoke (Savant Records, 2007), Carolyn Leonhart & Wayne Escoffery—If Dreams Come True (Nagel- Heyer Records, 2007) and Wayne Escoffery & Veneration—Hopes & Dreams (Savant Records, 2008), established the saxophonist as a solid post bop musician with intelligent ideas and fine tonal form. His keen approach is sharpened in the organ trio format, where every edge and corner is visible.

This sharpness and precision in this format is made that much more keen by guitarist Avi Rothbard’s composing. “No Desert” and “Cross Bronx” are draftsman-angular pieces with accurate heads and orderly solos, all held together with the glue of Gary Versace’s organ. The real treat on the disc is a rollicking version of Duke Ellington’s “I Got it Bad,” where Escoffery swings so hard he changes the weather. Escoffery’s retro blues “Easy Now” is breezy with a gospel feel. “Nu Soul” breaks into adult contemporary terrain with a complex, assertive head. Escoffery is full-throated in his tenor tone and Versace all creamy warmth.

Uptown is an exciting release, a chance taken where the payoff is very finely performed music. Wayne Escoffery should return to this format in future recordings, but should not to over-do it, in case he makes the experience pedestrian.

Visit Wayne Escoffery on the web.

Dan Pratt Organ Quartet
Toe The Line
Posi-Tone Records
2010

Saxophonist Dan Pratt likes to fray those precise edges established by Wayne Escoffery, adding a bit of funky freedom to the mix. He also adds the competing trombone of Alan Ferber, rounding out the horn tone of the combo. Toe The Line is Pratt’s second recording, following Spring Loaded (Sunny Sky, 2004). It is a collection of eight Pratt originals and one standard (Ellington’s “Star Crossed Lovers”).

Pratt’s compositional bent tends to smart and wordy post bop. “Houdini” and “Minor Procedure” both are up-tempo burners with winding introductions. “Doppelganger” is an off-time blues that allows Pratt’s tenor to have contrapuntal relations with Alan Ferber’s trombone. The two unite for some slick and mantra-like ensemble play that oddly recalls saxophonist John Coltrane’s spiritual spasms without imitating them.

“Star Crossed Lovers” bisects the recital with a bona fide ballad treatment that recalls baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan and valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer in a very modern way. Jared Gold provides a most modern organ solo that mixes well with Pratt’s and Ferber’s subsequent soliloquies. The closing piece, “After,” opens with a Pentecostal call-and-response that flirts with a ballad before crossing the blues with sanctified gospel, producing 21st century New Orleans R & B. This broadly appealing album has much to offer listeners, its coda being a part of jazz fans’ collective DNA.

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Here’s another review for our new Dan Pratt Organ Quartet record “Toe the Line” featuring Alan Ferber, Jared Gold, and Mark Ferber…

www.allaboutjazz.com

Toe the Line is a phrase which signifies unwavering obedience to a doctrine, structure, or rule, but the Dan Pratt Organ Quartet defies such a rule. The group conforms to the rule of playing with flair, but little else.

Pratt, who plays tenor saxophone, was a member of the Monterey Jazz Festival High School All-Star Band, and his professional career includes work with Joe Lovano, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, and the Christian McBride Big Band.

“Houdini,” the first of eight Pratt originals, opens with organ and drum laying down the rhythm. Pratt leads, echoed by Alan Ferber. The tenor and trombone harmonize, and at times they overlap each other. Shortly into the piece, Pratt takes off a bouncy, freestyle solo; Ferber solos as well. Throughout, organ and drums are in grooves of their own.

“Doppelganger” is aptly named. The term refers to the double of a living person—someone who bears a strong resemblance to another. The tenor begins a phrase and is joined by the trombone. At times, it’s difficult to tell which instrument is playing. Then the tenor plays the phrase at a higher tone. After the opening sequence, Alan Ferber and Pratt take turns with solos. Jared Gold’s organ serves not only as the rhythm instrument but also as the bass—a function it provides on all tracks. The horns revert to the opening phrase, playing without accompaniment at first. Then Mark Ferber joins in, skillfully playing snare, toms, and cymbals as if it were his solo. The song ends with sax and trombone harmonizing on the thematic phrase.

The lone cover, “The Star-Crossed Lovers,” is performed with as much vigor as Pratt’s compositions. The leads are solid, and the solos are engaging. In this sense, Toe the Line does conform to one rule: the musicians play from the heart.

Track listing: Houdini; Minor Procedure; Wanderlust; Doppelganger; The Star-Crossed Lovers; Toe the Line; Stoic; Uncle Underpants; After.

Personnel: Dan Pratt: tenor saxophone; Alan Ferber: trombone; Jared Gold: organ; Mark Ferber: drums.

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Another positive review for Dan Pratt Organ Quartet “Toe the Line”….

by Derek Taylor
masterofasmallhouse.blogspot.com
The Hammond organ is a hardy instrument, having weathered waxing and waning popularity since pioneers like Fats Waller and Bill Doggett brought it prominence as a viable jazz voice. Still, the number of players who opt to apply it to adventurous settings remains relatively few compared to the legion content to toe the line of convention. Saxophonist Dan Pratt and organist Jared Gold choose the less traveled path on this second disc by Pratt’s working quartet. Gold is an important part of a recent release by guitarist Jeff Stryker also reviewed in these virtual pages. The difference in his playing in that context compared to here is instructive as to just how well Pratt is able to press the best from his partners by giving them plenty to work with.

Pratt’s writing for the band is its principal asset. Each of the nine originals brims with ideas and novel avenues for execution. “Houdini” and “Minor Procedure” work of tightly wound heads and bright, bustling rhythmic structures. Gold builds throbbing bass lines and whirring fills that make the most of his instrument’s variable tone settings. “Wanderlust” opens with syrup-thick sustain and weirdly warbling effects that instantly place the tune apart. On “Star Crossed Lovers” and the closing “After” Gold traffics in luminous, church-appropriate swells that resist tipping over into treacle. The Brothers Ferber, Alan on trombone and Mark on drums, complete the band and are equally essential to the constantly shifting sound that reflects the players in nearly all manner of component groupings. Alan works like the cooling balm preceding the burning heat of Pratt’s improvisation on “Dopplegänger”, his rounded lines transmitting with an almost tactile smoothness.

Other pieces in the program cover different bases from the rock-inflected patterns of the title piece that works off another monster snaking bass line from Gold and a string of dynamic drum breaks to the vaguely Latin groove of “Stoic”, which again features the unflappable ingenuity of the drummer’s textured stick play. Trading in humor and tradition, “Uncle Underpants” gains momentum as a spiraling Pratt-penned head irons out into a stomping funk vamp. Ferber’s malleable backbeats soon reach street band fervency and he virtually steals the track with a galloping extended break. Pratt and his colleagues have been gigging quite regularly and the multiple merits of this release are certain to extend that employment streak. It’s a set custom-designed for skeptics who consider organ dates strictly old hat.