Three winners

Varied CDs from Boston talents

by Richard C. Walls

Our theme this week is jazz CDs by Boston-area talent, the subtheme being perfectly decent releases that might otherwise be ignored because they're by lesser-known artists on small labels and civic chauvinism goes only so far among us hardnosed journalist types. (Actually, I live in Detroit . . . well, near Detroit, but please play along or we'll never get this thing off the ground.) Our honorees are Leonard Hochman's Manhattan Morning (Jazzheads), the Cecilia Smith Quartet's High Standards (Brownstone), and Bob Nieske's Wolf Soup's My Desire (GM).

Hochman is an interesting case: a reed player who's been around since the '50s but didn't make his debut as a leader until 1995's Until Tomorrow (Brownstone). Manhattan is the follow-up, a quintet disc with Joe Locke on vibes, the venerable Kenny Barron on piano, Harvie Swartz on bass (he also produced), and Victor Levis on drums. These guys are all vets, and the mode is mainstream post-bop, done not in the young-turk pyrotechnical style but in the manner of graybeards who have long found the form natural and comfy. In fact, maturity hangs over the set like some kind of metaphysical cardigan sweater. On tenor sax, Hochman has a big lazy lion sound, somewhat like Dexter Gordon with his deliberate pacing and stretched-out yawning notes (he covers Dex's "Cheesecake" very nicely). When he gets all sensitive, Stan Getz comes to mind, as on Baden Powell's "Let Me," and Swartz's "Take Your Time."

Hochman also plays bass clarinet, an instrument with the potential for arabesque intonations, and though he can't resist a certain puckishness -- using, on "I Apologize," the heft of the instrument's slightly absurd lower register to punch up the tune's mid-tempo swing -- he plays it pretty straight, as though this were just a big fuzzy clarinet, which I suppose it is. The accompaniment is as spot-on as you'd expect, with Locke and Barron especially impressive on the aptly titled "Dream Sequence," unfurling solos of hypnotic continuity.

Hochman, then, is familiar but on the deep side -- experience speaking. Vibist Smith is also familiar, but in a somewhat less engaging way. High Standards is in part a salute to past masters of the instrument -- Lionel Hampton, Milt Jackson, Bobby Hutcherson -- and there's no question she's learned from those innovators. She knows how to coax warmth from her percussive instrument and how to make it swing in a full-bodied aggressive manner. But in the end, the whole thing is just too predictable, something brought home by tenor-saxist Javon Jackson's two guest spots; his gnarly style is a reminder that in jazz personality is as important as formal expertise, and also a great source of genuine spontaneity. Smith shows impressive proficiency and her ballad writing is promisingly lyrical, but she's hemmed in by her respect for the tradition and some anonymous co-players.

Turning about 180 degrees, we have Bob Nieske and his professional gadflies. Wolf Soup consist of Nieske on bass, Jim Cameron and Tom Hall on sax, Jon Damian on guitar, and Nat Mugavero on drums. Nieske leans toward the art-jazz thing (Jimmy Giuffre and George Russell were mentors), and that can become a predictable stance too -- something he avoids by dint of humor, some very tasty arrangements, and the employment of two genuine oddballs, Hall and Mugavero. Hall's style suggests a kind of controlled delirium, with modified Archie Shepp drawls and growls; it's best displayed on a version of Monk's "Misterioso," where he enters sounding like a mosquito on steroids, then builds to some hairy blues. Mugavero's big spot comes on Nieske's "Mr. Ives" (dedicated to the famous Charles). The composition sounds, appropriately, like a slightly distracted folk song until you get to the centerpiece, a minimalist drum solo consisting mainly of random taps on the cymbals and unknown-tongue vocalizing, behind which Nieske's melody moseys on, unfazed.

The disc is full of neat stuff like that, so in my opinion, of the three under consideration, it wins. Actually, the Hochman is pretty good too, in its mellow way. And the more I think about it, I bet if you really like vibes, you'll find Cecilia Smith's deft grooving very pleasing as well. In fact, I'm sure of it.