Well, not everything about the pandemic was bad after all. For musicians like Susanne Alt, the enforced hiatus provided an opportunity to reconnect with the basics of their artistic work. In the case of the alto saxophonist, who had primarily shifted towards danceable music with DJ accompaniment in previous years, it was the music of the trumpeter Roy Hargrove, who passed away much too early in 2018.
And so, the saxophonist, born in Würzburg but now living in the Netherlands for over 20 years, set off to New York in February 2022. At the "EastSide Sound" studio there, she met with bassist Gerald Cannon and drummer Willie Jones III, both longtime collaborators of Hargrove. The team was completed by pianist James Hurt, who can now be heard on the Fender Rhodes on five out of seven tracks.
The result of this encounter is a buoyantly groove-oriented recording in the typical idiom of Hargrove, which skillfully translates the hard bop tradition into the new millennium. Alt, who regularly jammed with the trumpeter after hours at the North Sea Jazz Festival and resurrects this memory in the uptempo swing of the track "Bel Air Bop" on "Royalty For Real", proves to be a cool custodian of his legacy. Reminiscent of David Sanborn from afar, she interprets Hargrove's "Roy Allan" with considerably more punch than the floating original and does not allow "The Nearness Of You", one of the trumpeter's favorite ballads, to sink into excessive sentimentality. With pointed flute arrangements in the background, the saxophonist also provides a certain variety in her own compositions. Roy Hargrove would surely have appreciated the relaxed vibes.
on 18/05/2024