Saxophonist Jerome Sabbagh Drops New Jazz Trio Album, “I Will Follow You”

Taking advantage of the adventurous
setting of a trio without a bass, the players’ seamless interaction
makes it impossible to discern who’s leading from who’s following, as
they shepherd the listener through an ever-changing tapestry of sound.
“Without a bassist, there’s less of a desire to go into time, ” says
Sabbagh “and it opens up new textural possibilities.”

Despite the
constant risk taking—or perhaps because of it, the music is always
compelling. “There’s this cliché that improvised music is hard to listen
to, ” Sabbagh notes. “Maybe I’m an idealist, but I find the best
improvised music has a directness of expression that immediately draws
the listener in.”

I Will Follow You follows three critically
acclaimed efforts as a leader. North (voted Best CD of 2005 by the
readers of French monthly magazine Jazzman) and Pogo (four stars in
DownBeat) both feature Sabbagh’s uncanny, song-like compositions and
lush tone, in a quartet that includes Monder, bassist Joe Martin, and
drummer Ted Poor. One Two Three (four stars in DownBeat), an album of
standards played in the totemic sax-bass-drums instrumentation pioneered
by Sonny Rollins, features bassist Ben Street and drummer Rodney Green.
I Will Follow You represents a bold departure from the more controlled
settings of these albums, yet retains the lyricism, clarity of purpose,
and melodic flair that are the hallmarks of the saxophonist’s style.

The
smooth ebb and flow between tracks has an appealing narrative
continuity, opening with the controlled chaos of the title track, which
builds in anticipation as Humair moves from brushes to sticks and Monder
answers him, at the flick of a pedal switch, with ferocious distortion.
Other highlights include “Comptine, ” a moody free ballad with echoes
of Bartok and “The Clown, ” an exploration of a simple melody that
becomes increasingly dense as Sabbagh and Monder improvise symbiotically
in chromatic counterpoint. I Will Follow You concludes with a sumptuous
rendition of “I Should Care, ” the album’s only standard.

“I
spent a lot of time arranging the sequence of the record, trying to make
it into something that could be listened to from start to finish, ”
Sabbagh remarks. “The tracks are short, especially for an album that’s
mostly improvised. Everything was wide open, but we all strove for
concision, which was good, since dragging things out is an easy mistake
to make in a free setting.”

Sabbagh composed the music with the
sounds of Monder and Humair in mind. He set out to avoid prefabricated
compositional patterns by writing with pen and paper only, as opposed to
sitting at the piano. Coupled with the six improvised pieces,
miniatures of unfettered freedom and keen interplay, the compositions
endow the album with a self-contained quality, “like a little world unto
itself, ” he says.

Though this is the first time they play
together, the three players mesh with a psychic energy that would be
impressive even for a longtime working band, a testament to Sabbagh and
Monder’s exceptional musical bond, and to the 72-year-old Humair’s
peerless listening ability. A first-call drummer in Europe whose career
trajectory took him from playing bebop with the likes of Bud Powell and
Dexter Gordon to improvising with avant-garde explorers Tony Malaby and
Ellery Eskelin, the protean Humair was an obvious choice for the
shifting dynamic of this trio.

“Daniel is a master free player
but came up swinging with the best, and he is also a painter. Form is
important to him, as it is for Ben and I, ” says Sabbagh. “Even when we
are playing free, we are ever-conscious of creating a narrative arc in
the moment.”

Sabbagh was exposed to music at a young age by an
early teacher, pianist and composer Annick Chartreux, who first inspired
him to transcend the confines of genre, a lasting influence. “She would
play the overture to Mozart’s The Magic Flute, ‘So What’ from Kind of
Blue, and some Jimi Hendrix, all in the same listening session.” Since
moving to New York in 1995, Sabbagh has played with Guillermo Klein,
Bill Stewart, Billy Drummond, and Victor Lewis, in addition to numerous
others.

Asked about his musical values, he explains: “The keys
for me are melody, sound, and interaction. Each player weaves a unique
voice into the collective in a way that makes sense with the material,
while staying true to their inner song. I think the process of making
good music with people is similar whatever the project may be.”

I Will Follow You is yet another exciting example of Sabbagh’s musicianship, integrity and artistic vision.