Step over to the Jazz Side

The uninitiated will remain mostly unmoved. But there is always the chance for conversion; one only has to listen long enough and well enough to crack the code. Jazz is a half-buried treasure.

Here are three excellent exponents of this neglected art form – three artists who are capable of both satisfying the true fan and winning over new ones.

Once hung with the “young lion” tag also given to a few other similarly-aged jazzers, ROY HARGROVE is now one year shy of 40.

The trumpeter was touched by the modern jazz savior/scold Wynton Marsalis while a teenager in Dallas and greatness has flirted with him ever since. He’s been mainstream for most of his career, dallying with Cuban rhythms and big bands and lately with a hip-hop and R&B fusion sound.

On his latest, EARFOOD, he’s achieved a career-to-date high mark. While in the solid middle of the jazz tradition, the record sounds like the most nouvelle of cuisine.

Hargrove chose to record here with his working quintet. He, like others of his stature, often chooses to bring in hired guns whose names have equal allure. But what might be gained in individual proficiency is offset with the loss of sheer cohesion and seeming telepathy that a real band has. These guys all play in simpatico fashion, comfort and playful sparring side-by-side. And they’re truly world class, too. All acoustic, and all engaging.

The contemporary is much on display, with Hargrove writing seven of the 13 songs and rearranging the remaining covers. The first four tunes all sport rhythms with nary a traditional “spang-a-lang” beat, yet all still swing in their different ways.

The opener, “I’m Not So Sure,” by pianist Cedar Walton, is a marvelous introduction to each member and the unit as a whole. It slyly races along, stops and starts, then meanders while each player get a chance to shine. Hargrove plays with the always-cool mute on the next tune, “Brown,” which takes the temperature down a few degrees.

“Strasbourg/St. Denis” comes next and proves that snappy rhythms and infectious unison playing can still be cliché-free.

Ballads are a challenge to play well, in that strength of focus is needed to hold attention. Patience is required. Hargrove includes four of them and nails them all. I like “Joy Is Sorrow Unmasked” best of all.

Hargrove can seem a bit too polished – he shows his down and dirty side with the totally funked-up “Mr. Clean,” which again proves what imagination can do to spruce up what might only be rump-shaking in other hands. The album ends with a live, full-throated and blooded “Bring It On Home,” thrown down with all the verve of a New Orleans street ensemble. Hot, cool and brilliant.

JAMES CARTER has never been accused of being too polished or restrained. This just-turned-40-year-old multi-reedist is a force of nature. It’s seemed at past times he’s being paid by the note, even on ballads when economy is called for. He really hasn’t toned it down all that much on his latest, PRESENT TENSE, but he has found a new sense of balance and terseness.

Carter loves the more exotic reed instruments, so the bass clarinet and baritone sax get spotlight treatment alongside his tenor and alto saxes. Flute, soprano sax and even the C-tenor sax are also employed to great effect. His band here is also the standard sax, trumpet, piano, bass and drums line-up, with the addition of guitar and percussion on a couple of tunes.

Carter’s maturity displays itself throughout. The opener, “Rapid Shave,” is a blues stomp and the invitation to excess is only winked at. Carter and company aren’t really holding back as much as making their points without the musical equivalent of shouting. Make no mistake, though – this is red-blooded passionate music.

As befits a lover of variety, the album mixes pace with sometimes smooth, sometimes jarring effect. “Bro. Dolphy,” a tribute to his musical ancestor, Eric Dolphy, makes this point within a single song. Delicate dissonance gives way to a surer melody, only to be followed with swirling outré ensemble playing.

The program features beauty (see “Pour Que Ma Vie Demure,” “Sussa Nita” and “Shadowy Sands”) and muscular workouts (“Song of Delilah,” “Dodo’s Bounce” and “Bossa J.C.”). It ends on the impossible-to-dispute “Tenderly,” leaving the listener satiated as if he had just finished a four-course meal.

ANAT COHEN, a very young Israeli living in New York, crashes the mostly boys’ jazz club with her powerful clarinet (!?). Last year saw her debut with a dramatic double-shot of creativity, Noir and Poetica. Now, with her new NOTES FROM THE VILLAGE she makes clear her intentions: to lead and make her mark as a serious artist.

Whereas last year’s albums were flowing and stately with classical and chamber jazz overtones, Notes is a balls-out jazz program. Her very tight combo features guitar, piano, bass and drums with nary a cello or viola in sight.

The set list contains constant surprises and delights. “Washington State Park” starts things off in rollicking fashion, with a sonic virtual tour of NYC’s musical neighborhoods. “Until You’re In Love Again” sounds as sad and uplifting as its title.

“Siboney” really kicks things into high gear, with a challenging tempo-shifting pace mixing both Jewish and Latin motifs into a saucy whole. “After the Rain” is quite aptly named, evoking stillness and freshness. “J Blues” is a twist on the form, keeping an off-kilter stance while staying traditional.

“A Change Is Gonna Come” is a stop-dead-in-your-tracks stunner; Cohen works the standard until it reveals its topical political message with full force. And “Jitterbug Waltz” takes Fats Waller’s whimsy and adds a bit of sly wit, a neat trick.

Cohen and her “licking stick” will be heard from for a long time. Sample her now while she’s still relatively unknown.

Still alive, jazz is even flourishing within in its tiny niche. Demanding at times, its rewards are many and precious. It can inspire the most elevated of human thought and emotion, and that equals love.