Richard Guba (alto, tenor, and soprano saxophones) has brought together an eight-piece outfit to record his debut as bandleader with Ken Zimmerman (acoustic piano and Ensoniq ESQ 1 digital wave synthesizer), David Mueller (electric bass), James Burcky (drums), and Nicholas Carico (guitar), Joel McCord (trumpet and flugelhorn), Jim Tavener (tenor trombone) and Rodney Laster (alto saxophone and flute). It does seem strange to me that a saxophonist would bring another saxophonist into the band, but given this is a “live” recording in that everything was recorded on 20th April 2024 Richard apparently did not want any overdubs.
For the most part it appears this band is somewhat under-rehearsed or practiced, not normally what one would expect from a jazz outfit, and there are a lot of notes just off pitch from all the horns, while only the rhythm section really appear to be in sync and setting the tone for the rest. I am all for live recordings where it makes sense, but there are too many moments in here where there are so many issues that it makes it difficult to listen to. Miles Davis famously said, “If you hit a wrong note, it’s the next note that you play that determines if it’s good or bad,” yet there are many places here where the note has not been struck well, missed altogether, or we get additional squeals which do not add anything. On top of that, there is a very pedestrian feel to this as if people were just going through the motions. It is a real shame as I am a huge fan of sax-led music, and the album cover is a delight, but I cannot imagine myself going back to this again.
Rating: 6/10
