Saxophonist Richie Cole Joins Organ Trio+

courtesy of The Tracking Station

Alto saxophonist Richie Cole was born in Trenton, New Jersey about a year and a half after I was born on the other side of the Delaware River in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His “first contact” with his instrument took place at the age of ten, probably under the influence of his father, who owned a jazz club in New Jersey. The major source of his training was the Berklee School of Music in Boston, where he was good enough to attend as a scholarship student.

Cole was an enthusiastic advocate of bebop, even though he entered professional life when bebop was at least a decade past, having been displaced by hard bop and even freer approaches to making jazz. By the Seventies he was developing his Alto Madness concept, probably in response to the Sonny Rollins Tenor Madness album, which had been released during the hard bop days of the mid-Fifties. Cole’s latest album, released this past summer, reflects a more relaxed approach to making jazz. The album title is The Keys of Cool, and Cole shares billing with an organ trio led by Tony Monaco. The other trio members are Mark Lucas on guitar and Reid Hoyson on drums. On some of the tracks they are joined by Noel Quintana on congas.

The album combines familiar standards with originals by both Cole and Monaco. This makes for readily accommodating listening without ever devolving into the banality of “easy listening.” One of Cole’s accounts is a retrospective take on the title track from the first album on which he served as leader, Trenton Makes, the World Takes. Anyone making the drive from New York to New Jersey about half a century ago will probably recall seeing that motto emblazoned in large letters on the side of the railroad bridge crossing the Delaware. There was probably still some life in that sign when Cole released his album in 1976. If the letters are still there, they are probably little more than another icon of the rust belt in decay.

Fortunately, Cole does not wallow in melancholia. Indeed, even his “Waltz for a Rainy Bebop Afternoon” suggests the sunshine behind the clouds. The Monaco originals account for two tracks. The album opens with his “I Remember Jimmy,” an homage to pioneering organist Jimmy Smith. His other track is “Indonesian Nights,” whose exotica extends to a few evocative guitar riffs from Lucas. The shouted “Look Out!” outburst towards the end of the track reminded me of what it was like traveling in a taxi in Yogyakarta on the island of Java!

This may not be the most cerebral album of jazz inventions, but it serves up enough originality to keep hold the attention of the serious listener.