Bicoastal Collective: Chapter Two

Album Review

Trumpeter Paul Tynan and baritone saxophonist Aaron Lington met while both men were students at North Texas State (home to one of the major college jazz studies programs) in the late '90s. Their second release together, with guitarist Scott Sorkin, bassist John Shifflett, and drummer Jason Lewis, has an unusual centerpiece: Lington's adaptations of English folk tunes arranged by classical composer Ralph Vaughan Williams as Six Studies in English Folksong for Cello and Piano, though because of changes in key, tempos, and the length of certain phrases (while retaining most of the melodies), he retitled them as The Ravenspurn Collection. The opening selection, "Lovely on the Water," is reshaped into a driving intense blues with relatively calm solos by Tynan and Sorkin bracketing Lington's furious Pepper Adams-like baritone. The hymn-like sound of "The Lady and the Dragoon" should come as no surprise, as Vaughan Williams wrote a number of sacred works and hymns during his long career; Lington's majestic baritone and Tynan's subdued flügelhorn are well suited to the piece, with the closing phrase incorporating the traditional melody "I Have Decided to Follow Jesus." The uptempo "As I Walked Over London Bridge" provides a startling contrast, with sparkling solos in a decidedly post-bop setting. The music throughout this enjoyable CD keeps revealing new facets with each hearing.