Greg Abate Quintet

December 21 - 28, 1 9 9 5

** Greg Abate Quintet

DR. JEKYLL & MR. HYDE

(Candid)

Abate faces off with fellow alto saxist Richie Cole in a decent bop date with Chris Neville (piano), Paul Del Nero (bass), and Artie Vabral (drums). The ensembles are brisk, the protocols polite, the soloing OK. But the weird, wonderful excesses implied in the title are lacking. The play-it-safe nature of the date is largely due to Abate's derivative tunes. I waited for some of the incandescent exchanges that the once-madcap Cole had waxed on the Muse label with the likes of Eric Kloss (1977) or Phil Woods (1980) -- and waited. If they'd played a few more bop warhorses like "Tomahawk," where horns and Neville sparkle, broke up the pace with a ballad or two, or even messed with the solo order a bit, we might have seen some wonderful personality changes instead of all that deadpanning. Though they trade peppery fours late in this 75-minute set on the Bird-like "Parallel," neither dude transforms into a wild Mr. Hyde. Truth to tell, they're really more like Heckle and Jeckle. Recorded live at Chan's in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.

-- Fred Bouchard