Quartet Tips Its Hat to Tapscott’s Enduring Style

Echoes of Horace Tapscott were in the air Friday night when the Michael Session quartet showed up for a one-night performance at Rocco Ristorante. Saxophonist Session and drummer Fritz Wise, in fact, represented half of the quartet Tapscott led in the years prior to his death in February.

With Nate Morgan taking over the piano chair, and Jeff Littleton playing bass, the music resonated with the surging rhythms and dauntless improvising characteristic of Tapscott’s unique approach to jazz.

It was not--aside from occasional appearances by the Bobby Bradford Mo’tet--the sort of mainstream sounds usually heard at the Bel-Air restaurant/jazz club. But the overflow crowd quickly got in sync with the extended soloing, complex rhythms and high-energy decibels, focusing on the often abstract sounds, and greeting each player’s efforts with surprisingly enthusiastic responses.

Tapscott was one of the rare jazz artists who could move comfortably from the mainstream to ‘60s-style avant-garde playing. And the Session quartet covered similar territory. The opening set included pieces by Ornette Coleman and Blue Mitchell, an original, rap-style blues by Session’s and Morgan’s moody tribute number, “Tapscottian Waltz.”

Session’s soloing--especially on alto and tenor saxophones--flowed in a direct line from Coleman and John Coltrane. Despite the stylistic similarities, however, Session’s firm connection with the blues gave his work a uniquely personal slant. Morgan added a series of consistently imaginative solos, shifting from McCoy Tyner-inspired arpeggiation to a floating lyricism, and combined with Wise and Littleton to generate a high-voltage accompaniment reminiscent of the surge produced by the classic Coltrane groups.

All in all, it was an evening of colorful music, and a potent reminder of the fact that Los Angeles, often considered a mecca of straight-ahead jazz, has always possessed a too-little acknowledged undercurrent of cutting-edge adventurousness.