Alto Saxophonist/Composer JIM SNIDERO Brings Deep Reflection and Restrained Maturity to WAVES OF CALM (Savant Records)

Album Represents A Son’s reflection on His Father’s Ongoing Struggle
with Parkinson’s Disease

The Stellar Quintet features Jeremy Pelt (trumpet), Orrin Evans (piano/Fender Rhodes), Nat Reeves (double bass) & Jonathan Barber (drums)

RELEASE DATE: MARCH 8TH, 2019

If you trace the path of alto saxophonist Jim Snidero’s varied output for Savant, you’ll note transitions with regard to instrumentation and personnel: from organ combo to quartets with guitar or piano, to the animated quintet music of MD66 and Jubilation! Celebrating Cannonball Adderley (the latter co-led with trumpeter Jeremy Pelt). With Waves of Calm, due out March, the veteran altoist enters a mellower, more contemplative zone. But the title seems to suggest that Waves of Calm might coexist with other states of mind, perhaps less than calm. And that is true: Snidero intends this album in part as a son’s reflection on his father’s struggle with Parkinson’s Disease.

Calm does often prevail when Snidero and his father are together. But the condition at its worst can provoke “terrible, violent hallucinations,” he reports. “It’s frightening to see.” In the song “Visions” one could hear, at a certain remove, a musical evocation of this haunted reality. The uplifting “Dad Song,” with echoes of Freddie Hubbard in his CTI period, celebrates a man whose vibrancy and intelligence persist even in his weakened state.

On the heels of Jubilation!, Snidero wanted to highlight once again his exceptional rapport with Jeremy Pelt, who appears on half of Waves of Calm. Pianist Orrin Evans, newly minted member of The Bad Plus and a seasoned Philadelphia mainstay, was a catch. The two played on a forthcoming Brian Lynch session and wanted to explore together more. “I knew when I had him use the Rhodes (on three tracks) that it would be perfect.”

On “Truth,” in fact, Evans plays piano with Rhodes overdubbed — angular lines and shadowy chords interweaving through the open spaces he made sure to leave for each instrument.

The rhythm section is of course key as well: “[Bassist] Nat Reeves is someone who knows what to do and I knew his feel would be phenomenal. Jeremy recommended Jonathan Barber on drums and he was amazing. It’s so gratifying to have someone that young who fits right in with veterans, no problem.”

“Waves of Calm,” a simple, concise and hypnotic opening statement, is something unique in Snidero’s output: “I can’t remember a song I’ve written with only a piano counterline and no chord — it’s that same cascading piano line in octaves, those notes against the bass and melody. It was exactly right and I couldn’t add anything. It needed to be a peaceful moment to start off.”

“Estuary,” the closing track, finds Evans back on Rhodes, mining harmonic spaces redolent of Miles Davis’ period with Chick Corea and Joe Zawinul. “I pared the tune down in the studio,” Snidero recalls. “We decided not to play the bridge during the solos, and yet I love the way the bridge sounds on the heads, with Orrin blowing over the top of it, which was exactly what I wanted.”

Thus does the program unfold, as waves of calm (the title track and three ballads) embedded within a somewhat edgier or more unsettled sound (the four originals with Pelt). At the core of it is Snidero’s alto, evolving over nearly 40 years on record, taking a more restrained, mature and economical turn in keeping with the album’s reflective theme: “I find myself editing more and more. I’ve been playing saxophone for a long time, so I could easily play a lot more notes. But I’ve always been so attracted to Miles, and as I get older that way of playing a ballad, where you’re just looking for the right note at the right moment, searching for that one perfect thing — it’s all you need. It’s difficult to accomplish, but it’s so gratifying, the way it sounds, the way it hovers. The more notes you play, the farther away you are from that.”

RELEASE DATE: MARCH 8, 2018

PUBLICITY CONTACT: Matt Merewitz / Fully Altered Media — matt@fullyaltered.com or 914-556-6368