Reviews
Tenor saxophonist Fair . . . is a major talent and an extremely under-recorded Canadian. This new release of a live session at the Cellar in Vancouver in 2003 has her joined over five tracks by Bill Coon, Jodi Proznick and Dave Robbins. Don’t miss her look at Strayhorn's Johnny Come Lately. - Len Dobbin (Montreal Mirror) 9/10 stars
Jazz saxophonist Jane Fair is one of this country's great unknown musicians. A professional for more than three decades, she's divided her time between family, teaching and music, so her recording output has been minimal. This disc, recorded in 2003 at Vancouver jazz club The Cellar, is only the second she's put out under her own name, and lots of luck trying to find that first CD.
With an able supporting cast of guitarist Bill Coon, upright bassist Jodi Proznick and drummer Dave Robbins, tenor saxophonist Fair runs through three originals and two standards. On the opener, Fu's Feast, she uses all parts of the horn, and utilizes space to great effect. The title track features a unison line with sax and guitar, and nimble brushwork by Robbins. Highlight of the set is the ballad Lazy Afternoon, where Fair captures the poetic sensibility of the composition, holding notes and crafting phrases. - Marke Andrews (Vancouver Sun) 3½ / 4 stars. [link]
Tenor saxophonist/composer Fair is no "Jane-Come-Lately" to the Canadian jazz scene: CBC Records released her first and, to this point only, album way back in 1975. But while she's long been a musical polestar to the likes of Jane Bunnett, she's not widely known outside of Toronto. One hopes that this excellent CD — recorded live at the Jazz Cellar in March 2003 — will help to change that.
Fair has chops to burn. However as is clear from the CD opener — an up-tempo original entitled Fu's Feast — she prefers to take an almost leisurely, investigative approach to the music; she mulls over short phrases and spins them into intricate musical statements artfully punctuated with silence. She has a rich throaty tone and a languid way of phrasing that she puts to excellent use on the ballad Lazy Afternoon, one of two non-originals on the CD. Her quartet for this date was composed of Dave Robbins on drums, Jodi Proznick on bass and guitarist Bill Coon. While all are deeply involved in the music on this CD, Coon, who met Fair for the first time one day prior to this performance, deserves special mention. His ability here to support and enhance Fair's flights of fancy as well as his own highly melodic soloing, lifts him far beyond the role of sideman and into the realm of creative co-conspirator with Fair; rarefied company to be sure.
- Ron Forbes-Roberts (CODA Magazine - Issue 336, Nov/Dec 2007)
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Jane Fair (tenor, soprano saxophone)
Rosemary Galloway (bass)
Nancy Walker (piano)
Terry Clarke (drums)
Lina Allemano (trumpet, flugelhorn)
Hear samples
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Waltz Out
Poco Luce
The Paths that Cross
Blue Velvet
Chances Are
T's Vamp
Fu's Feast
Little Dark One
Falling in Love with Love |
Jane on tenor and soprano saxophones and Rosemary on
acoustic bass co-lead an adventurous quintet through both originals
and standard material. With Nancy Walker on piano, Lina Allemano on
trumpet and Terry Clarke on drums, the listener will enjoy a powerfully
fresh personal approach from each player. These are seasoned players
who have found new resonance and inspiration working together.
With the release of their CD Waltz Out in 2002 the group performed
at the Toronto Downtown Jazz Festival, the Montreal International
Jazz Festival, the Waterloo Jazz Festival, the Ottawa Jazz Festival,
The Montreal Bistro and the Rex.
It's impossible to overstate the role saxophonist Jane Fair has played
for women in Canadian jazz. Without the emergence of the Guelph native
in the early '70s as the first Canadian-born female instrumentalist
of consequence, there would likely be no Jane Bunnett -- an early
student of Fair's -- or Ingrid Jensen. Bassist Rosemary Galloway has
been another strong role model for Canadian women in jazz over the
past 30 years. The quintet they co-led yesterday is the latest of
three bands that have carried their names since 1981.
With Terry Clarke on drums, Lina Allemano on trumpet and Nancy
Walker on piano, this is their best unit yet, and their program
of post-bop originals bristled with energy. It is difficult to do
anything but bristle with Clarke propelling a rhythm section. An
economical, precise percussionist, he provided subtle support, stepping
forward only briefly in T's Vamp -- a song Galloway wrote in his
honour.
Along with Jensen, Allemano is one of the generation of younger
female instrumentalists to follow on the heels of Fair and Galloway,
and like Jensen she is exploding the stereotype that the trumpet
is a male instrument. Echoes of Kenny Wheeler can be heard in her
tart tone and artfully cracked notes, but Allemano also has a nicely
burnished sound that's all her own.
Jane Fair / Rosemary Galloway Quintet
Ottawa International Jazz Festival
Reviewed by James Hale (The Ottawa Citizen, July
23, 2002) |