COMPOSERS: David Liebman Trio
LABELS: Daybreak
PERFORMER: David Liebman (sax), Marius Beets (bass), Eric Ineke (drums)
CATALOGUE NO: DBCHR 75978
Unlike movies, where a remake is often pointless, in jazz it’s part of its lifeblood. It’s a window, for us listeners, on the direct influence that the great performers pass down. Here’s a case in point. The premise is simple: saxophonist Dave Liebman and his trio do a night of ‘fun’ Coltrane-inspired blues at a Belgium club, and find it good enough to put out. Liebman (a Miles Davis sideman in the early ’70s) begins this excellent set with Davis’s iconic ‘All Blues’ – with a flat out and elongated take on Coltrane’s original solo.
Proceeding with some choice cuts, he finishes with ‘Take The Coltrane’, from Trane’s summit with Ellington. Liebman, seemingly coyly, admits ‘there is nothing new here’ but the (stark) absence of a pianist, let alone other soloists, puts the emphasis firmly on him – and his driving rhythm section – to show, once again, the intense impact that seeing Coltrane perform has had on him since. Neil McKim