Hans Teuber has been a mainstay on the Northwest jazz scene for over 25 years, working with Wayne Horvitz, Jeff Johnson, Clay Giberson, and others who lean toward progressive jazz. On his first album as a soloist, Teuber relied on his compositions as the framework for his work on alto and tenor saxophone, flute, and clarinet. His orchestrations are engaging pieces of work without becoming raucous or loud. They naturally tend to frame his considerable fluency and facility with the horns, especially the alto which he seems to favor, such as on "More Illusions" where his alto lays down the playing line while members of the rhythm section dart around like bees buzzing around a nest. In contrast, still on alto, "C Minor Waltz uses more abstract figures. "B.C." opens with Teuber's feathery flute giving impressions of a sylvan setting before seguing in somewhat of a controlled, creative free for all with one instrument playing against another. "Bom Pra Caramba" is the result of modern creative jazz ideas applied to a Latin beat. The tenor comes into play on "Old Fellow," giving the music a dreamy aura as Santi Debriano shows imagination on a lengthy bass solo. While the music on this CD is quite pretty, one wishes there were a bit more diversity. After a while, a certain sameness creeps in, which is always a risk when the musical agenda is prepared by the same person. One or two classics or jazz standards would have elevated this CD to a more interesting level. — Dave Nathan
Mark Taylor
Don Lanphere
Brent Jensen
David Sills
Daniel Carter
Richard Cole
Yoshiyuki Yamanaka
Kim Richmond
Tim Jensen
John Gross
Rick Mandyck
Matt Otto
Brad Wheeler
Alex Graham
Bobby Porcelli
Pete Christlieb
Scott Burns
Joshua Redman
Rob Lockart
Hadley Caliman
Mitch Paliga
Geof Bradfield
Mark Colby
Phil Dwyer
Michael Brockman
Ricky Sweum
Matt Vashlishan
Peter Epstein
Jim Gailloreto
Bruce Williamson
Tom Luer
Ed Epstein
Michael Zilber
Tim Garland
Ira Sullivan
Dudley Owens
Amit Friedman
Joel Miller
Idit Shner
Marc Bernstein
Francois Theberge
Brian Gephart
Dave Liebman
Bobby Selvaggio
Renato Caranto
Ernie Watts
Jim Norton
Lucas Pino
John Wojciechowski
Roxy Coss
Carlos Vega
Steffen Weber
Jason Hainsworth
Zem Audu
Edgar Steinitz
Benjamin Boone
Neil Welch
Aaron Lington
Xose Miguélez
Dann Zinn
Greg Yasinitsky
Alon Farber
Mark Zaleski
Jared Sims
Jordan VanHemert
Ralph Bowen
Santosh Sharma
Tim Warfield
Maddie Vogler
Vincent Herring
Donny McCaslin