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Saxophonist Johnston's current outfit picks up where his former band, the Microscopic Septet left off -- with fun and surprises waiting around every postmodern turn. Johnston's "Mr. Crocodile," a breezy hybrid of ska and samba, and "Pontius Pilate Polka" have a tipsy, off-balance sense of the absurd that's utterly appealing. Joe Ruddick, the group's keyboardist and other primary composer, deploys brief free-jazz outbursts and frequent tempo changes to keep the sawtooth Monkish melody of "Advertisement for a Dream" from settling into a routine. The cleverness and arch humor could wear thin pretty quickly, but both Johnston and Ruddick are fine craftsmen as well as jokers, and they know when to let soloists run free. Duets between band members on "(They) Call Me Daisy" and a group blowout at the climax of "Heaven, Hell, or Hoboken" generate heat that offsets the lighthearted writing. Big Trouble strike a balance between art and entertainment that harks back to earlier jazz without sounding old-fashioned at all. *** Phillip Johnston's Big Trouble
FLOOD AT THE ANT FARM
(Sphere)
-- Ed Hazell
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