THE GREG ABATE QUARTET

IN THE MOMENT

Summit Records

Greg Abate, alto/tenor/soprano saxophones/flute/composer; Bill O’Connell, piano; Harvie S, Bass; Steve Johns, drums.

From the very first tune, I recognize that I am going to love this high energy, Straight-ahead jazz production.  Greg Abate comes out smokin’ hot during the first original tune called, “Realization (Living the Dash).”  This song was inspired by the 9/11 horrific attack on New York’s Twin Towers. The sub-title reflects the dash between birth and death.

All of Greg Abate’s original music sounds like they could easily become jazz standard tunes.  He is an awesome composer.  On “The Little Men” (a song he wrote in 2001) the inspiration was his two sons.

“Watching them grow into adulthood has been one of the greatest joys of my life,” Abate says.

You can hear the joy in this arrangement.  Plus, it swings hard, sometimes adding a taste of Latin jazz into the mix and letting Steve Johns solo wildly on his trap drums.

The excitement and swing continues on “All or Nothin’” a song written during the COVID 19 pandemic.  The jazz waltz he calls “Angelic” honors his daughter, Jessica and “CCA” is a shuffle blues that honors his late father with initials for Charles Carmine Abate. He always encouraged his son, Greg, to pursue being a jazz musician.

With the wonderful talents of his rhythm section, Bill O’Connell on piano, Harvie S on bass and Steve Johns manning the drums, this is a project that pleases from the first to the last tune. Abate has composed all the songs save one.  That one was written by pianist Bill O’Connell and is titled, “Black Sea.”  It’s another Straight-ahead presentation with a catchy melodic quality that inspires the band to swing joyfully.  Every song on Greg Abate’s project reflects the album title with innovation and improvisation; “In The Moment!”

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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