POP AND JAZZ REVIEWS : Art Music From Kellaway Sextet

Friday evening marked the debut at the Jazz Bakery of the Hands of Time, a sextet organized by pianist-composer Roger Kellaway, whose work has often reached beyond jazz.

The present ensemble is a new departure, particularly in its unique instrumentation, comprising cello, marimba, bass and two percussionists. It does not attempt to qualify as jazz; essentially this is a chamber group offering contemporary art music, with little or no jazz playing as the term is generally understood.

Some of the pieces called for close study, perhaps for more intent listening than could be absorbed in a single hearing. Several, however, concentrated on the cello of Fred Seykora, a melodic soloist for whom Kellaway composed many passages of great beauty.

Bob Zimmitti, playing fills and occasional solos, put the marimba to exotic and intriguing use. The percussionists, Joe Porcaro and Emil Richards, tended occasionally to overbalance the rest of the group. They were brought to the forefront more deliberately in an extended concluding work, “Winter.” Chuck Domanico’s bass provided a solid undercurrent throughout.

The leader’s solos tended to the pastoral and bucolic rather than the rhythmic, in character with the evident intent of this unit, which adds yet another daring venture to Kellaway’s long and dissimilar line of credits.