Music Review | Donny McCaslin: Jazz With A Casual Urgency, Played In Support Of Peace

Since moving to New York in the early 1990s the tenor saxophonist Donny McCaslin has built a reputation for versatility, poise and a vigorous approach to improvisation. Not coincidentally he now holds a sideman post in two of the more prominent ensembles in jazz, the Maria Schneider Orchestra and the Dave Douglas Quintet. And he has been increasingly productive as a bandleader, drawing from the well of similarly broad-minded New York musicians and writing music that suits their worldly ideals.

Donny McCaslin introduced two new songs on Tuesday night.

At the Bowery Poetry Club on Tuesday night Mr. McCaslin enlisted the bassist Hans Glawischnig and the drummer Ted Poor. It wasnt a working band, or even the same one as on his impressive new album, In Pursuit (Sunnyside). But the trios first set was action packed, advancing a deceptively casual model of interaction. At times there was a work-in-progress feeling, but it wasnt unwelcome. It was almost the point.

That was true, anyway, of two brand-new songs. Mr. McCaslin introduced the first, Eventual, as his response to the Gil Evans composition Time of the Barracudas, which helped explain its brooding ostinato and nearly static harmony. Something was missing, though: a substantial melody, or a strong instrumental foil. It wasnt hard to imagine Mr. McCaslin carving up the theme with the alto saxophonist David Binney, a longtime colleague who produced In Pursuit and its predecessor, Soar.

The second new tune, as yet untitled, began in a slow 6/4 meter, with harmonic undercurrents faintly suggestive of a gospel hymn. Mr. McCaslin played the melody near the low end of his register, in a warm and supple tone. Yet it was during the songs repetitive coda, in an alternating pattern of six and five beats, that he sounded most inspired, unfurling intricate lines as if they were streamers, in great gusts of exhalation.

A similar spirit of urgency enlivened the sets bookends, Fast Brazil and Descarga. Both are byproducts of Mr. McCaslins sincere engagement with Latin American rhythm, and he soloed commandingly on each of them, counterbalancing his 16th-note flurries with spontaneous riffs and stuttering syncopations.

Mr. Poor was just as gripping a presence, especially in his ability to ratchet up the intensity without a corresponding increase in volume. When he finally played a solo on Descarga, it was more fluttering than percussive, even though he never eased up on the groove. (Through much of the song he stamped a clave pattern with his left foot.)

Proceeds from the evening went to the antiwar organization United for Peace and Justice, as part of a series called Jazz Means Peace. The audience was sparse, and whether that says more about the peace movement or the state of jazz is an open question. In any case, the trio played with full commitment, and Mr. McCaslin led the charge.

The next Jazz Means Peace event, featuring the poet Eliot Katz accompanied by Jay Elfenbein on viola da gamba, Russell Branca on bass, Mike Pinto on vibes and Diego Voglino on drums, is Tuesday at 8 p.m. at the Bowery Poetry Club, 308 Bowery, near Bleecker Street, East Village, (718) 843-0515.

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