TT 383: Jim Snidero, FOR ALL WE KNOW

fresh and confident alto sax trio

Jim Snidero loves Charlie Parker and John Coltrane, and he’s been working on a personal take on that lineage for something like 50 years. On For All We Know, he’s joined by two another standard bearers of the true tradition, Peter Washington and Joe Farnsworth. Snidero says on Facebook that intensive practice during Covid enabled him to reach a new level as a player, and that the title track of his latest is the best thing he’s ever done.

Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, and Joe Henderson all validated the tenor sax trio. Alto sax trios are comparatively rarer, especially playing standards: the only truly canonical one I can think of from the ‘50s and ‘60s is Motion by Lee Konitz.

There’s quite a distance in register from the alto to the bass. This empty space is usually filled by piano or guitar. When there’s no chordal instrument present, there is probably a temptation to fill that empty space with a lot of notes. However, Snidero and Washington are completely unfazed by the chordless situation. Coltrane’s “Naima” is supposed to have a lot of lush suspended harmony in the middle, but Snidero just lets fly casual pretty phrases and Washington thrums on a low groove. It shouldn’t really work but instead it sounds just great.

Snidero’s tone is burnished, direct, and soulful, but it is the bass and drums that are captured particularly well. It’s no secret that Peter Washington and Joe Farnsworth can swing, but maybe not every studio date has featured their engaging strut in quite such a raw and exposed way. “Parker’s Mood” is a highlight, ambling along at a walk, some big spaces, harmonic surprises, and two bars of 12/8 from the drums to close out the blues.

Snidero understands bebop, but his general melodic attitude is actually coming more out of an intervallic thing. It’s not brittle or shiny, though, it’s all warm and inviting (something that can not always be said of intervallic altos). The disc is nearly a ballads album. (I haven’t heard a horn player play Alec Wilder’s “Blackberry Winter” before.)

“Love for Sale” is the only uptempo piece, another highlight, where Snidero snakes sneaky threading over the serious beat of Washington and Farnsworth. Although Konitz is not an obvious reference for Snidero, “Love for Sale” has a hint of that famous Motion magic, a mixture of elegance and surprise.

All three players have great time. That is a given. But I am struck how this mellow trio manages to be quite greasy as well. A lot of modern jazz grips the beat. It is what it is: Playing it all a bit tighter is one way to get it done, and, indeed, that is mostly the way we live now. However, these cats let the beat happen, a talent that makes all the difference when the topic is, say, a ruthlessly swinging version of “You Go to My Head.”

For All We Know is a pleasure of an album, and proof that there are still discoveries to be made on familiar roads as long as the guides are gifted and passionate. Dexter Gordon said, “Bebop is the music of the future — as soon as they learn how to play it.”

Thanks also to Savant Records for documenting an important area of modern music.