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JAZZ SPOTLIGHT : BOBBY WATSON (*** 1/2) : “Midwest Shuffle” (<i> Columbia</i> )

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Unlike pop music, where appearances in front of an audience often reveal the emperors to be wearing no clothes, the best jazz often comes in live performance. This new recording from Bobby Watson and his band Horizon, recorded last year at a trio of concert spaces, supports that contention, as the alto saxophonist’s quintet moves the intensity level up a notch from its previous releases.

Watson’s ensemble refuses to trade in the post-bop revivalism that has today’s young, hotshot recording artists modeling, if not outright stealing, the sounds of 30 years ago. Instead, Horizon expands on that direction, bringing harder, tougher beats and a cosmopolitan smartness that moves to the tempo of the times. The best examples of this approach are Watson’s title tune, which has the immediacy of an on-the-scene news broadcast, and drummer Victor Lewis’ two contributions, “Complex Dialogue” and “He’s More Good Than Bad,” both of which carry a well-tempered sensitivity for soloists to explore.

Credit Lewis for the disc’s muscular rhythmic strengths, as he pumps up the program with tom-tom variations and exploding snare and cymbal accents. But each member shines in turn: trumpeter Terrell Stafford, whose daring recalls the late Woody Shaw, young Venezuelan pianist Ed Simon who brings Latin touches to his moody expressionism and bassist Essiet Essiet who keeps to the lower range of his instrument for a big, throaty sound. For his part, Watson shines as he attacks the title tune with a linebacker’s aggressiveness, as well as during the solo technical display dubbed “Finger Games.” This disc’s only drawback is the spoken introductions and vocal asides that pepper its length. Couldn’t that time have been better spent on more music?

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New albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor), two stars (fair), three stars (good) and four stars (excellent).

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