| A young hotshot still in his early '20s,
saxophonist Frank Catalano has been making waves in Chicago with an instrumental command
that belies his age. The DePaul-educated tenorist already boasts an impressive resume,
having gigged with such jazz luminaries as Louie Bellson, Charles Earland, Jimmy McGriff,
Dr. Lonnie Smith, Clark Terry, Ira Sullivan, David Sanborn and Tony Bennett. And on this
disc, his second as a leader, he surrounds himself with some of the city's finest rhythm
men: bassist Larry Gray, drummer Joel Spencer and pianist Willie Pickens (whose name is,
amazingly, misspelled on the front cover). Plus, from out of town, the heralded
trumpeter/flugelhornist Randy Brecker joins him for three tracks.
Catalano comes in with both guns blaring on the opening track, "Night and Day."
He and Brecker share the melody, then Catalano navigates the changes with skill and
exuberance, expressing himself with a strong, full-bodied tone. Unlike a lot of so-called
young lions, he doesn't shy away from taking things a little outside, even on a standard
like this. As his solo builds, he lands on boisterous Pharoah Sanders-like split tones. A
comparison could be drawn with Von Freeman, a more seasoned Chicago tenorist who also
works mainly within the bebop milieu but incorporates touches of avant-garde styles
pioneered in the 1960s.
Catalano sounds most at home when he's playing bop favorites and jazz standards. On
"I Can't Get Started," for example, he displays a warm vibrato, brilliant tone
and great sense of timing, not to mention an excellent knowledge of the song itself. He's
somewhat less convincing in bluesier settings, like his original number "Spill
It" and in "Georgia On My Mind." These sound a bit forced; instead of
throwing so many rapid-fire licks into his solos, he might try slowing down and letting
his ideas sink in more deeply.
That will come in time. He's studied well and learned his lessons from the titans of
tenor; now he must undergo the slow evolutionary process of making the music his own. As
it is, he's off to a start that most musicians could only
dream of.
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