By Phil Mosberg

Saxophonist Chris Greene has been slowly making a name for himself since returning to Chicago from Bloomington, Indiana in 1994.  He can be heard in The Voodoo Kings, Kevin O'Donnell's Quality Six as well as his own projects, including the group featured here - Chris Greene and New Perspective. This is the ensemble's second of three albums and the group really has a lot going for it. All of the musicians are excellent players and the production is extremely slick- more akin to a pop or modern R&B album than a traditional "jazz" album. Which leads to my major
reservation about this recording - there doesn't seem to be any edge to it. It's all very polite, unobtrusive music.

Greene is a fine saxophonist, employing a big, full, even tone on his alto reminiscent of Lou Donaldson, Cannonball Adderely and even Johnny Hodges. He's also prone to phrasing with many short phrases strung together to produce what seems like one continuous statement. He does this to great effect over a 5/4 vamp on "Core of Vitality". Charles D. Bayne supplies piano, keyboards and synths, ably supporting Greene with his crisp comping attack while bassist Kohki Ohno provides solid, if unimaginative, bass vamps underneath. Drummer Ron Lambert is very impressive throughout finding interesting ways to fill space all the while laying down the steady time that these funk - inspired tunes require. His playing is especially noteworthy on the "smooth jazz" feel of "Admantium".

For all of the admirable instrumental proficiency that the band members demonstrate, it's too bad that the album never really takes off. Greene never really launches his playing up into the higher energy level that you know he's craving to jump into. The overall feeling throughout is very polite. The introduction to the tune "Dragonfly" left me with some hope as the band explored a cathartic frenzy of activity. This, however, soon gave way to the same mid-tempo funk that characterized the rest of the album.

Chris Greene and New Perspective demonstrate a wide variety of influences throughout this recording, most noticeably James Brown (especially on the opener "Mister Congeniality"), Prince, Stevie Wonder and Miles Davis. The result is a combination of the improvisation of jazz, the beats of hip-hop and the repeated bass vamps of funk. It's a combination that's been done before about a million times with a very small success rate. Unfortunately even the fine execution couldn't keep this from being boring.

More ChicagoGigs.com Reviews

Chicago Music Discussion Board