Jacám Manricks

With imposing technical fluidity, impressive command of shifting metres and inspiring compositional conception, alto-saxophonist Manricks makes the intricacies of his music seem like no big deal. He's that strong a musician. Knotty tunes with shifting accents like "Trigonometry" and "Cluster Funk" are delivered with remarkable effortlessness. His tone is sweet and his technique graceful, even when he's firing out complex lines that resolve with unexpected suddenness, as on "Slippery." Manricks' sidemen (pianist Gary Versace and drummer Obed Calvaire) are definitely up to the leader's demanding charts. They dig in and deliver on every tune, playing with a funkiness that undercuts the cerebral nature of some of the material. On the only tune not penned by the leader (Eric Dolphy's "Miss Ann"), the altoist's limpid tone sounds somewhat at odds with the angularity of the line. But on closer "Micro Gravity," Manricks loses himself in the moment, lashing out and delivering a burning solo that points to where we might find him on his next outing.