JAZZ REVIEW : Hargrove’s Backup Combo Doesn’t Take a Back Seat

Even on an off night, trumpeter Roy Hargrove is a step up from such acclaimed young-generation trumpet players as Marcus Printup and Nicholas Payton. And Hargrove had an off night Saturday at the Veterans Wadsworth Theater.

His usually precise articulation was not as crisp as it’s been on record or in previous local appearances. He seemed tentative at times when reaching into the upper register of his instrument. His solos, mostly brief, to-the-point affairs, sometimes ended just when you thought the trumpeter was ready to kick it up a notch.

But if Hargrove, who earlier this fall displaced Wynton Marsalis as top trumpeter in Down Beat magazines annual reader’s poll, didn’t live up to full promise, his combo did. Led by provocative saxophonist Ron Blake, the group made fine complement to Hargrove’s agenda of post-bop material, bringing wit, wile and excitement to everything it played.

It’s not as if Hargrove’s less-than-stellar performance made him the odd man out. The ambition of his improvisations, though not always realized, set the tone for the rest of the band. He played beautifully in tandem with Blake, especially on his own material. And he seemed to revel in the work of his teammates, often shouting encouragement to soloists while moving in quick-step to the music.

Time and again, the trumpeter was upstaged by the other four men under his leadership. Bassist Gerald Cannon showed the kind of technical facility and melodic smarts that made his instrument an equal to the horns. Drummer Karriem Riggins delivered a constantly varied, polyrhythmic attack.

Even the group’s newest member, pianist Charles Craig, made a strong impact with improvisations that developed from spare, simple beginnings into rollicking chordal displays with plenty of personality. As an accompanist to Hargrove or Blake, the keyboardist was equally spare, adding off-beat echoes to the horns or tracing chord changes with reserved delicacy.

Blake’s tenor play recalled Wayne Shorter’s sound for Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers back in the ‘60s, with plenty of robust exclamations and airily toned ballad play. Like his boss, the saxophonist would inject unexpected moments of silence in his solos before easing back into long, involved lines. His soprano play on Hargrove’s “Home Life Revisited” was decidedly not nostalgic, instead mirroring the spirit and enthusiasm of childhood.

Hargrove’s strengthening skills as a writer were in evidence. His lively, circling theme “Another Level” created a demanding framework for soloists. “Trilogy,” a piece dedicated to his mother, father, and youngest brother, worked a variety of mood and tempos, all in intelligent fashion. Only Hargrove’s questionable vocalizing at the end of the piece, and the feel-good lyric that rhymed “identity” with “positivity,” marred the impressive opus.

The group seemed more lively after the intermission, opening with an impromptu slow-blues arrangement that found each member trying to outdo the other. Hargrove played warm, intimate fluegelhorn on Johnny Griffin’s “When We Were One,” then turned back to trumpet for a beat-minded version of the David “Fathead” Newman tune “Thirteenth Floor.” Here, late in the show, Hargrove made his longest and best statement, an improvisation strong on the sort of facility and invention that has earned him his top-ranked reputation.