SOME OTHER TIME
(Newvelle)
8.5/10
Noah Preminger is not just gifted, he’s smart. At the age of 30 he knows that having the vast experience of 75-year-old drummer Billy Hart in his music is a priceless asset. Add bassist John Patitucci and guitarist Ben Monder, both in their mid-50s, and you have three generations of players finding common ground on an eclectic program of standards, plus one Preminger original. But what breadth of perspective and depth of understanding are brought to bear!
Preminger seems to have skipped the brashness-of-youth phase in his tenor saxophone playing, preferring a certain calmness and deep melancholy, and he has a way of instinctively eschewing the obvious in favour of lines that add a layer of mystery to the music. Monder does the same with his spacy, atmospheric contributions, while the always superb Patitucci varies his role between being an earthing device and injecting moments of flaring melodic invention. And all the while there’s Hart instilling his warmth, playfulness, groove and supreme use of dynamics, all of which are lent greater immediacy by this fine audiophile LP release.