Jim Snidero Continues to Raise His Stature with "For All We Know"

Jin Snidero: For All We Know: Savant SCD 2215

Album by album, the alto saxophonist Jim Snidero has raised his stature as one of the most esteemed alto saxophonists in the world of improvisational music. The Maryland-raised musician's career started when he attended the prestigious Unversity of North Texas College of Music, a school that produced noted alumni like bassist Marc Johnson, keyboard artist Lyle Mays, and multi-reed master Jimmy Giuffre to name just a few. 

The saxophonist became a member of their esteemed One O'Clock Lab Band from 1980-81. Along with his formal education, Snidero found time to take lessons from saxophone masters like Dave Liebman and Phil Woods. Pursuing his career as a professional musician, Snidero, at the age of 23, made his way to NYC in 1981. To hone his skills, he found sideman work in the organ-centered band of noted B3 artist Brother Jack McDuff from 1981-82, and in 1984 recorded with McDuff.  He later joined saxophonist/flutist Frank Wess' group in 1985. As a valued section man, Snidero found work with Toshiko Akiyoshi's Jazz Orchestra (1985, '86,'96, and 2004); Trumpeter Brian Lynch's groups in 1986, 1991, 2019, and 2021); Eddie Palmeri's Band in 1994  Frank Sinatra's touring band in support of Sinatra's album Duets 2 in 1994; and saxophonist Walt Weiskopf's Nonet 1995 and '99 to name just a few. 

Off of the stage, Snidero is an educator as a faculty member at the New School in New York and a visiting professor at Indiana University and Princeton. He has also written a well-respected series of musical instruction books on Bebop, Blues, and Jazz Conceptions. Jim Snidero's alto saxophone sounds like an amalgam of influences that is all his own but has elements of Lee Konitz, Cannonball Adderley, Paul Desmond, and Phil Woods.

Jim Snidero recorded his first album as a leader On Time back in 1984 on the EMI label. He has since released twenty-seven albums as a leader, the last thirteen on Barney Fields' Savant Record label. In February of this year, Snidero released his latest album For All We Know. The album follows three well-received Savant albums that paired Snidero with some jazz elite sidemen. In 2020, Project K  united Snidero with trumpeter Dave Douglas, bassist Linda May Oh, pianist Orrin Evan, and drummer Rudy Royston. Jim Snidero Live at the Deer Head Inn, came out in 2020 and found Jim and progressive pianist Orrin Evans pushing each other to new heights. This time, these two were rhythmically anchored by the team of the superb bassist Peter Washington and stalwart drummer Joe Farnsworth. In his continuing search to spur his own creative boundaries, Snidero's last album Far Far Away, matched the altoist with a different foil.  Retaining the intuitive rhythm section of the last album, he matched musical wits with the enigmatic guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel to great effect.

Released in February of this year, For All We Know breaks the mold. On the never-ending quest to improve one's creative advancement, some things stay the same and some things inevitably change. Snidero's quest led him to accept the next step in his development as a player. He would play without a net. He would wisely reprise his intuitive rhythm section of Washington and Farnsworth, but he would for the first time make an album where his alto was the sole melodic instrument. Where the structure of the melody wasn't safely maintained by the presence of a chordal instrument. The album has a selection of eight exceptionally savvy standards. Familiar melodies that allow his audience to connect. Songs that are rendered in an enticing, soulful,  and communicative way. As an artist, Snidero's alto has a beautifully lush sound. To hear him interact with Washington's empathetic bass and Farnsworth's insightful trap work, one can hear just how congenial and interconnected these guys operate as a single unit.

The title cut "For All We Know" opens the album with a slow saunter led by Washington's buoyant bass, Snidero's mellifluous alto, and Farnsworth's judicious snare. Snidero carries the melody with a depth and flow that navigates the changes with aplomb and sensitivity. As if his solo alto isn't exposed enough like a lone wolf out in the wild, at the six-minute mark, Jim offers a deeply personal and moving solo cadenza to finish this one off with confidence and beauty. 

John Coltrane's classic ballad to his wife, "Naima," is opened by Washington's resonant bass entre. There is little room for recreating this song in such a way that can replace the original, but Jim's alto enters playing the moving melody with reverence, his trademark tonal warmth, and a personal commitment to making it into his own vision. When this trio recreates this one, it shows that great songs in the hands of the right artists can always be reinvigorated and made surprisingly fresh. Bravo!

Cole Porter's "Love for Sale," made famous by Billie Holiday's languishing version, is given an upbeat treatment. Snidero's alto swings, Washington's vibrant bass carries the walk with authority, and Farnsworth is given a chance to demonstrate percussive acuity. Upbeat and on point.

A surprising addition to the repertoire is Alec Wilder's  "Blackberry Winter." This moving ballad is sadly not heard often in jazz sets. The melody allows Snidero  and Washington to do the heavy lifting here.  Washington's burnished bottom solo is the perfect vehicle to expand on this folksy feeling. Snidero provides a sinewy alto solo that navigates the theme with warmth and feeling.

"Parker's Mood" is a slow blues that has Snidero alto taking on a Cannonball-like feel. There is dexterity to this trio, a fluidity, and a soulful vibe that emanates with inventiveness. When they are playing there is a sense of intimacy that they generate. It's like seeing them playing just for you.

Classics like A. Ronell's "Willow Weep for Me," given a quick tempo, and Rogers and Hart's "My Funny Valentine" given an evocatively slow treatment, are each given their place as vehicles of invention. In both cases, the particularly telepathic interaction between Washington and Snidero, and Farnsworth's instinctive subtly, is what makes these such an enjoyable listen.

The superb set ends with another J. Coots tune "You Go To My Way" made famous by vocalists like Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan with Count Basie's Orchestra and Frank Sinatra and even instrumental versions by Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond and Bill Evans. The trio offers this version that has Snidero's alto spelling out the melody line in a jaunty, almost Desmond-like style. The notes just drip out of the bell of his saxophone like succulent drops of ambrosia. Washington and Farnsworth generously offer the perfect support, a fragrant unobtrusive rhythmic bouquet that graces the set. Snidero doesn't waste the opportunity. He  embellishes this memorable melody with style, grace, and aplomb. For All We Know is the kind of album one should just sit back, listen to and enjoy for its pure artistry.

Jim Snidero's latest musical excursion "Far Far Away " with Kurt Rosenwinkel

Jim Snidero Far Far Away Featuring Kurt Rosenwinkel
Savant SCD 2207

The altoist/composer Jim Snidero has recently released his latest album Far Far Away on Savant Records. When Jim sent me an email, to let me know he was getting a copy of this to me, he mentioned that he thought it was perhaps his best work ever. Needless to say, I was anxious to hear this for myself. 

Snidero is a beautifully articulate, expressive, and facile alto player in the line of a lineage that includes Paul Desmond, Cannonball Adderley, Sonny Stitt, and Phil Woods. 

Like his predecessors, Snidero seems to be on a personal quest. This restless man travels roads that may not often be taken by others. He experiments with varying musical concepts and alternates band configurations; he collaborates with a changing array of fellow musicians, always looking to hopefully add to the magic of the creative experience along the way. Through all the permutations, Snidero never forgets his tone, his clarity, his passionate articulation, and his vision.

Jim was raised in Maryland-Washington D.C. and was educated at the University of North Texas. If you wonder how Jim got his wonderful sound, it doesn't hurt to have studied with both the great altoist Phil Woods and multi-reedist master Dave Liebman.

Jim relocated to NY in 1981 where he cut his teeth with jazz organist Jack McDuff and where his talents became discovered. He eventually found work on the Mingus Big Band, The Toshiko Akiyoshi Big Band, Eddie Palmeri, and played on Frank Sinatra's Big Band from 1991-1995. He started his own quartet starting in 1984 and commenced recording as a leader. Like many musicians, Jim has also been an educator,  an adjunct instructor at the New School in NYC, and a visiting professor at both Princeton and Indiana University.

Snidero's recent releases have all featured Jim's sonorous alto. On his Project K, released in 2020, he is playing with a progressive group that includes trumpeter Dave Douglas, pianist Orrin Evans, bassist Linda May Han Oh, and drummer Rudy Royston. The biggest wild card on this album is the addition of Do Yeon Kim on the gayageum, a Korean stringed instrument. Following another artistic path, Snidero, in honor of his wife's Korean background and his own twenty-two-year familial immersion in the culture, seeks to discover the possible possible synergies that might exist between  Korean music and the jazz format. Snidero fosters collaborations like these, where the talent is diverse, creative, and open, and where unpredictable, unfamiliar twists can get your artistic fluids flowing and can inspire new musical possibilities! 

In 2021, Snidero changed his direction and went into writing, arranging, and playing on his ambitious orchestral project Strings. This project brought a whole new quartet with the inclusion of the brilliant Renee Rosnes on piano, Paul Gil on bass,  the dynamic Billy Drummond on drums, and an eleven-piece string section that was led by concertmaster Laura Seaton. The music is grand and sumptious. It has a splendid melodicity and vigor that reminds me of some of Phil Woods' work with Michel LeGrand. Jim also adds some breezy flute work that suspends over his arrangement of the swelling string sections. Hard to imagine this artist has anything left to prove after this creative tour de force.

Then again in 2021, Snidero tackled a "live" recording with his latest straight-ahead, hard bop  quartet of Orrin Evan on piano, Peter Washington on bass, and Joe Farnsworth on drums titled Live at the Deer Head Inn.  This cooking album was named one of Downbeat's Best Releases of 2021 and I also included it in my best-of-year list for that year. The group was just on fire and the added impetus of an enthusiastic audience captured on the recording made the session all the more rewarding. What else canbe expected to come out of the fertile musical box that is Jim Snidero's mind? 

On Far Far Away,  Snidero changes it up again. This time he is joined by the progressive guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel along with his potent Deer Head Inn band members, Orrin Evans, Peter Washington, and Joe Farnsworth. It's hard to imagine this group, which showed an admirable telepathic connection in the previous "live" album as a quartet, could embrace the added inventiveness of  Rosenwinkel's ethereal approach to the music, but it was almost like he was always an integral part of the group.  These pros simply meshed like the gears in a fine Swiss timepiece.

Rosenwinkel adds a new sense of adventure to this music with his airy creative approach. His mastery of enhanced electronic tone and his fretboard fluidity on the guitar is the perfect foil to Snidero's precise, articulate, and earnest alto. With a rhythm section like Evans, Washington, and Farnsworth these two find the table set for their dual and solo explorations. 

On Snidero's opening composition, "Far Far Away,"  Rosenwinkel comes out of the gate with a searing synth-like opening that just revs the music into high gear. Farnsworth's roiling drum work just accelerates in sync with the guitarist bringing the music to a combustible temperature. Snidero's alto pierces into the fray on the next solo with authority and command. Evan's piano work is on target with equal enthusiasm and Washington's bass is like a stabilizing heart beat anchor to the proceedings.

"Infinity" is another Snidero composition that has the altoist opening up with a more lamenting attack. Rosenwinkel's guitar replies with his own tailored guitar lines that contrast brilliantly to the mood previously created by Snidero. The contrast between these two voices is distinct and yet complimentary. They are able to navigate the same wave they attack using different musical surfboards, plying different riding techniques, and still wind up riding through the crest brilliantly.

To hear these two attack a reharmonizing of the Rodgers and Hammerstein composition "It Might Be Spring" is another gem. This is the most traditional take on the album, with Rosenwinkel presenting his intro using the least modified guitar tone on the set and Jim's burnished, luxurious sound is just captivating. The two find common ground here and Rosenwinkel's chops are fast, loose, and a joy to behold.

There are five other songs on this exceptional album including the challenging "Nowhere to Hide," and the latent funk of  "Obsession," The blues-spirited "Pat" -a dedication to recently departed guitar wizard Pat Martino-  gives Evans some nice stretch-out time to work his blues-tinged magic on the ivories. Other highlights are a fleet-fingered solo by Rosenwinkel, and a potent bass solo by Washington. The swinging "Little Falls" ends the remaining  Snidero compositions. 

McCoy Tyner's potent "Search for Peace" is a beautiful vehicle for Snidero to ply his warm sound to great effect. Washington's pliant bass lines are beautifully on display here and Kurt's electronically altered guitar lines accentuate the mood sparkingly.

Far Far Away may just be, as Jim wrote to me, his best work to date!  Let's just hope this group makes a follow-up to this thoroughly impressive collaborative recording.