The
jazz world has its share of dogmatic individuals who are more than happy to tell other people what they think are "correct" and "incorrect" ways of playing
jazz. But there are many improvisers who ignore the dogmatists and insist on keeping their options open -- improvisers who are smart enough to realize that learning and benefiting from "the tradition" does not mean that one cannot learn and benefit from
Ornette Coleman and
Roscoe Mitchell as well. Trumpeter/flugelhornist
Ralph Alessi is an example of a jazzman who has been keeping his options open, and that outlook continues to benefit him artistically on
Look. This inside/outside date is
avant-garde but not radically
avant-garde; the material (all of it written by
Alessi himself) is left of center but not far to the left. In other words,
Look is by no means an exercise in blistering atonality, but it isn't an album of
Young Lions playing
hard bop versions of
Cole Porter standards, either. Actually,
Look is far from blistering; some of
Alessi's performances, in fact, are downright reflective, drawing on trumpet influences ranging from
Miles Davis to
Don Cherry to
Lester Bowie. Even during its most abstract moments, this acoustic effort is always musical -- and thankfully,
Alessi has a sympathetic team of players to help him get the job done. Most of the 59-minute CD finds
Alessi leading a core quintet that also includes pianist
Andy Milne, bassist
Drew Gress and drummer
Mark Ferber, but special guest
Ravi Coltrane is featured on tenor sax on four of the selections:
"Old Beady Eyes," "Platform Velvet," "It's Just a Toy" and the title song.
Look is a solid example of
Alessi and his colleagues using both the inside and the outside to their creative advantage. ~ Alex Henderson
![The Very Best of John Coltrane [Rhino]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0081227977825_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "The Very Best of John Coltrane [Rhino]")
