Gary Thomas - While The Gate is Open

Gary Thomas
While The Gate is Open
1990 JMT Productions

Producer: Stefan F. Winter

Personnel:
Gary Thomas - tenor saxophone, flute
Kevin Eubanks - guitar
Renee Rosnes - piano, synthesizers
Dave Holland - bass
Anthony Cox - bass
Dennis Chambers - Drums

Gary Thomas is one of the many members of the ever evolving M-Base Collective led by Steve Coleman. While not generally as well known as Steve or the other M-Base sax colossus Greg Osby (who by the way, helped with the mixing of this album), Gary Thomas is no slouch. While the Gate is Open is fairly relaxed faire compared to some of the more experimental work Gary has done; it gets somewhat derivative in spots, but relaxed should not be mistaken for boring or smooth jazz. WTGIO plays in and around the hard-bop and straight ahead realms fairly fluidly.

The line-up alone is a solid one, and while most were not well established at the time of release in 1990 (with the exception of fusion drum god Chambers and bassist Dave Holland), all have since carved out reputations, and this record indicates in several spots why. Renee Rosnes is the standout surprise here, and you get to see the beginning progression from her work with Spiral Staircase, playing with some of the bounciness of a Herbie Hancock clone, but on the way to getting a strong voice of her own, with some brilliant phrasing in both Star Eyes and the classic Monk track Epistrophy. Of the four tracks that actually have Kevin Eubanks (yes, the same one that wastes his talent playing Captain to Jay Leno's Tenille -- good grief, someone just replace him with a generic laugh track) he does a fair job, with the one exception of Strode Rode, a lesser known Sonny Rollins tune. Here, his interplay with Thomas is strong and aggresive but not obnoxious. Both Dave Holland and Anthony Cox (who's solo album Dark Metals is a keeper) lay down good a foundation for the others to dance on. Cox and Chambers take an interesting solo duet on You Stepped Out of a Dream, but could have been done without.

Now as for Thomas himself, he sounds almost static on most of the tunes, scuttling around with the other players but not really taking a lead role except on tracks like Strode Rode - frankly, if you are a sax player and can't be commanding on a Sonny Rollins track, you need to take up another instrument or just not attempt Sonny Rollins. What does stand out is his flute work, which is sweet sounding, yet gracefully powerful the few times he uses it. On the near 10 minutes of Invitation, there is some racy and jabbing playing alternating between Thomas and Eubanks, with the results being a tune that does not get boring or contrived at any point. It also provides a fairly muscular workout for Chambers, who I did not think would suit this album initially; he is usually doing more in your face type fusion stuff. But he manages to lay low when he needs to and boil up whe he needs to. About the only bad part about Chambers is they seem to have recorded his drum sound fairly dry.

If you can even find this album, and you like modern bop, it is a good find to add to the collection (especially since the only times I've seen it is in the bargain bin, at which point it's a steal), otherwise I would recommend his newer, more developed work as both a soloist and his recent stint as a sideman with John McLaughlin.