Young All-Stars Take the Straight Path

JAZZ FUTURES “Live in Concert” RCA/Novus ***

Recorded at two concerts in the summer of 1991, this collection from an important assemblage of young all-stars affords convincing evidence of the vitality still present in straight-ahead contemporary jazz. Moments in the limelight are parceled out fairly evenly among the eight players. Saxophonists Antonio Hart and Tim Warfield and trumpeters Marlon Jordan and Roy Hargrove each perform solo ballads, while rhythm section members Benny Green, Christian McBride, Carl Allen and Mark Whitefield contribute compositions and/or arrangements.

The individual playing is first-rate--especially Hart’s sumptuous alto sound on “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” and Hargrove’s surprisingly effusive rendering of “You Don’t Know What Love Is.” Green’s compact, well-focused chart on McCoy Tyner’s “Mode for John” and Allen’s soul-jazz-revisited line on “Picadilly Square” provide other perspectives on the group’s far-ranging talents.

The recording’s most appealing quality is the players’ sheer sense of joy in music-making--best typified in the exuberant, collective improvising between Hart and Warfield that climaxes the album-closing “Public Eye.” Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good, recommended), four stars (excellent).