Auteur

Trumpeter David Weiss usually builds a band to accomplish a particular musical task. Point Of Departure, a brilliant early-2000s quintet interpreted the music of Andrew Hill, late '60s mostly pre-electric Miles Davis, and underappreciated Detroit keyboardist Kenny Cox. His long-running all-star septet, The Cookers, featuring titans such as Eddie Henderson, Billy Harper (more recently Craig Handy and Azar Lawrence), George Cables, Cecil McBee and Billy Hart, has helped keep the flag of acoustic jazz flying, with intricate, thrilling post-hard bop that'll make any listener's heart jump and head spin. When Weiss simply releases an album under his own name, the mission can be harder to discern, unless you accept the idea that just making an album of brilliant, classicist modern jazz is worthwhile in and of itself—which it absolutely is.

On Auteur, the leader is joined by Myron Walden and Nicole Glover (saxophones), David Bryant (piano), Eric Wheeler (bass) and E.J. Strickland (drums). Tracks bare dedications to Cables, Wayne Shorter and Buhaina Art Blakey (e.g. the closing "One for Bu"). The way the saxophones shadow his fleet, melodic trumpet on the long, swirling melodies, before giving way to thunderous drumming and heavy piano and bass, brings to mind classic acoustic swing of the late '70s and early '80s, similar to what you might hear on Woody Shaw or Freddie Hubbard albums from that era ("Rebop" is a Hubbard composition the legendary trumpeter never recorded.) Weiss steps back to give Walden and Glover plenty of time in the spotlight; if they occasionally go farther out in their improvisations, which rise to squalling crescendos, the trumpeter keeps his own counsel, letting the rhythm section draw them back down to earth. Strickland in particular proves to be an MVP here, swinging hard without ever taking things over the top into the thunderous, even rock-influenced territory à la Jeff "Tain" Watts or late-period Tony Williams, while Bryant and Wheeler keep the chords light enough that everyone can dance, rather than feel shackled in place.