dustedmagazine.

Tradition is a minefield topic in the context of modern jazz. Its tractor beam pull on contemporary players invites the expenditure of ink and pixel pro and con like scarce others. Tenorist Ken Fowser appears to recognize that the best way to contend with the figurative elephant of precedence is feed it personalized peanuts, however thin the shells. Audition Standing Tall for jazz neophytes alongside Herbie Hancock’s Maiden Voyage, Wayne Shorter’s Speak No Evil or any of another dozen vintage postbop albums and the listeners would likely end up erroneous in placing it as contemporaneous.

Some among the cognoscenti would find this subjective interchangeability of artistic outcomes opprobrious. Fowser and his compatriots seem rightly unperturbed, preferring instead to content themselves with the satisfying industry of creative expression regardless of whether the angel of innovation alights on their activities or not. Twelve pieces, all from Fowser’s pen, traffic in mellifluous small group jazz of the sort that came to popular prominence over a half century ago. Sharply spun heads as springboards for concise solos are the menu items on offer. If they all exude the enticing if familiar aromas of conventional counter fare so be it.

Trumpeter Josh Bruneau divides front line privileges with the leader and adopts a crisp, nimble attack parallel to purview of past heroes who answered to the surnames Hubbard and Morgan. Pianist Rick Germanson fronts the rhythm section with bassist Paul Gill and drummer Jason Tiemann. All five bring life to Fowser’s charts with enthusiasm and aplomb and the tunes are uniformly oriented to an egalitarian parity between individual and ensemble expression. “Filling in the Blanks” harkens directly to the assertive vamp-based vernacular of classic Billy Harper sans the spiritual heat while “Mode for Red” beats a bustling beeline for collective sweat-breaking catharsis.

Later pieces like “Patience and Optimism” and “Hanging On” emphasize the clean and cooperative fit between Fowser and Bruneau both in unison and apart alongside Germason’s easy talent for tasteful comping. Bruneau also seizes a couple opportunities to affix mute and blow with a pleasingly dampened tone. Due to the economy of compositions Gill and Tiemann don’t earn comparable time in the spotlight, but their group-minded contributions are equally essential to the results. An inverse of the “old bottles, new wine” adage, the music here is still worth knocking back at a leisurely pace.

Derek Taylor

Ken Fowser – Standing Tall – Posi-Tone PR 8145, 58:55 ****:

(Ken Fowser – tenor sax; Josh Bruneau – trumpet; Rick Germanson – piano; Paul Gill – bass; Jason Tiemann – drums)

While tenor saxophonist Ken Fowser has recorded four CDs for the Posi-Tone label going back to 2009, they have all been as a co-leader with vibraphonist Behn Gillece. With his new release, Standing Tall, Fowser easily claims he was more than ready to take the solo spotlight. Having written all twelve solid compositions, it’s a wonder that it has taken this long to make his leader debut.

From the opening track, “Head Start,” all the way to the closer, “Somebody Got to Do It”, there is an up-front hard bop swagger that is deeply contagious. It brings to mind Eric Alexander’s work with Jim Rotondi on One For All, as Fowser effortlessly tears into the melody along with front line mate, trumpeter Josh Bruneau. Pianist Rick Germanson is fully involved laying down sparkling piano accompaniment, both comping and taking lead. The ensemble blend is a modern version of a Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, both soulful and sophisticated.

It’s music that you will find regularly at both Smoke and Smalls in New York City where Fowser has found a home. “Filling in the Blanks” has some righteous tenor blues credentials, and Germanson contributes mightily. Some serious “head-nodding” ensues. “Mode for Red” is an up tempo burner showing Ken and Josh in high gear. The title track is a sweet ballad showing off a silky smooth gentle side.

Producer Marc Free, working with engineering partner Nick O’Toole gets the sound mix just right. They’ve got a winning combo with this septet. Let’s hope they return to the recording studio soon. The title of this CD says it all…

TrackList: Head Start, Lucid Dreaming, Filling in the Blanks, Off the Path, Mode for Red, The Fade Away, Patience and Optimism, Standing Tall, Hanging On, Brick’s Tune, Timeless, Somebody Got to Do It

—Jeff Krow

Ken Fowser – Standing Tall – Something Else!

After making four solid, post-bop jazz records with vibes specialist Behn Gillece, tenor sax man Ken Fowser has stepped out on his own to make a solid, post-bop jazz record. Standing Tall, released on January 15, 2016 (Posi-Tone Records), puts Fowser in another small combo setting,…Fowser wrote all of the tunes, and they are faithfully in the style of classic Blue Note. That, combined with the usual Posi-Tone warm, unblemished production puts Standing Tall in a space shared by Wayne Shorter’s The Soothsayer or Horace Silver’s The Jody Grind. The old school chops are there, too.

midwest record

If you’re any kind of a jazzbo, you know Fowser’s name but you’ll probably be surprised this is his first date as a leader. Swinging that sax like he was born holding it, Fowser isn’t letting grass grow under his feet as he delivers a pure, classic New York sound that can easily take you back to days you weren’t around for in the first place on a set of originals that aren’t filler. Engaging because he’s playing without affectation, he’s the real deal that knows from whence modern sax came from with Four Brothers as his starting point merging lessons learned with vision clear. Muscular, solid playing that makes this a winner throughout.
8145 

http://ginalovesjazz.com/ken-fowser-standing-tall/

This is a very promising start into the new year. Ken is playing a couple of shows in New York: He is going to play at The Grange on January 10th (Trio), at Fat Cat on January 14th (Quintet), and the record release party will be at the 9th Note in Stamford, CT, on January 23rd.

–Matthias Kirsch

jazzdagama.com

A first listen to the young tenor saxophonist, Ken Fowser’s performance on Standing Tallleft me enormously impressed. A second and indeed a third hearing prompts, once more, enthusiasm for his shot-from-guns virtuosity, his leaping into the fray like one fearlessly possessed. No reservations arise when studying his compositions, which are youthful and ebullient, yet erudite and featuring wonderful twists and turns that far belie youthful bluster and experimentation. Mr. Fowser is much to my surprise, a serious composer with a serious knowledge of jazz and its pantheon of gods and other celestial beings. He has, therefore an exacting sense of history and although he sometimes forms a straight line from Benny Golson to the present he is quite his own man, with a singular voice and a surprisingly individual writer as well.

I am the first to celebrate such individuality for its extra edge and audacity and take no issue with his occasional impetuosity under studio conditions. His producer Marc Free does not seem to mind and seems to encourage these forays into youthfulness. So while you are left to wonder at his blaze of youthful power and aplomb in the inchoate whirl of compositions that stretch from Head Start to Somebody’s Got To Do it from this same set where the compositions break out into frequent moments of light and jazzy boperation, you are also left dumbstruck by a great maturity of imagination about this virtuosity of dreaming; a player with a classic poise that illuminates the work here rather than take away from the composer’s high-octane rhetoric and fervour.

Of course, none of this would matter if it were not for his doppelganger, Josh Bruneau on trumpet, Rick Germanson on piano, John Tiemann on drums and Paul Gill on bass. Their powerful contributions beg instant acknowledgement. Happier in forte and fortissimo than in pianissimo and piano Mr. Fowser is also hardly without his gentle tremulous end to long and loping lines. He is also relentless in the magical trellis of his melodic invention and the generation of harmony that he leads Mr. Bruneau, Mr. Germanson and Messer’s. Gill and Tiemann too. The result is a performance of great import as you may expect with Marc Free’s legendary touch on all of his (the producer’s) recordings.

More generally, heard as part of Mr. Fowser’s audience, many of these performances would carry you all the way. In the more relaxed all-acoustic circumstances of this recording no reservations about sound and content can occur. At his best Ken Fowser reminds us of the power and moist tone colours of his instrument fired to fame by any of the songs on this album. In the turbulent rhythms advancing us to the climax of this recording you can only marvel at Ken Fowser’s early achievement while looking forward to hearing him in similar circumstances again. Recorded sound is good, but that may be a function of listening to the music in mp3 format. I wonder what the full range of a recording’s fidelity would sound like coming from studio monitors.

Track List: Head Start; Lucid Dreaming; Filling In The Blanks; Off The Path; Mode For Red; The Fade Away; Patience And Optimism; Standing Tall; Hanging On; Brick’s Tune; Timeless; Somebody Got To Do It.

Personnel: Ken Fowser: tenor saxophone; Josh Bruneau: trumpet; Rick Germanson: piano; Paul Gill: bass; John Tiemann: drums; Marc Free: producer.