Cory Barnfield: Song and Dance
Centaur Records

The third release from Louisville, Kentucky-based saxophonist Cory Barnfield makes good on its title with seven compositions marked by singable melodies and infectious rhythms. Whether wielding alto or soprano, his playing's marked by clarity of intonation, elegance of phrasing, and, always, musicality; it is, simply, a great pleasure to listen to him play. That the tonal, at times cantabile-styled pieces he performs on this short-by-CD-standards thirty-four-minute release are also consistently tuneful and harmonious makes Song and Dance an even more appealing proposition.

The performances are enhanced by arrangements that largely feature two musicians at a time; only one of the seven compositions features three. The pieces pair saxophone (alto throughout but for the closing piece) with, by turn, marimba and piano, and in that trio instance flute and piano. Barnfield draws upon a substantial number of performing experiences for this recording. He's a frequent guest of the Kentucky Opera and the Louisville Orchestra but also performs throughout the United States and Europe with orchestras, wind ensembles, and opera companies and at conferences. As an educator, he teaches privately, in the Jefferson County Public School System, and is on faculty with the Indiana University Southeast Department of Music. Barnfield also has appeared on a number of recordings and is the soprano saxophonist in the DynaSax Quartet.

The programme begins with Rumba by American composer Maurice Whitney (1909-84), Barnfield partnering with marimbist Brian McNulty in a delightful array of rousing dance rhythms and beguiling melodies. Shifting to a dreamier tone, the saxophonist and pianist Vicki King turn to Sicilienne, the most widely known piece by French composer Pierre Lantier (1910-98) and one that seduces with its graceful, flowing pulse and intoxicating lyricism. The sole piece in a multi-movement form, Sarabande and Gigue by Texas native Fisher Tull (1934–94) entices with King and Barnfield first giving plaintive voice to “Sarabande” and then enlivening the set with the vivacious “Gigue.”

Flutist Kaelah McMonigle joins Barnfield and King for Epitaphe de Jean Harlow, Op. 164, a lovely homage to the great American actress by French composer Charles Koechlin (1867–1950). Premiered in 1971 and composed by Hilo, Hawaii-born Urban F. Carvalho, Song and Dance opens with a bravura display of solo saxophone before King's chords emerge to impose stability on this alternately tender and rousing piece. Written in 1901 for, separately, cello and orchestra and cello and piano, Le Chant du Ménestrel, Op. 71 by Russian composer Alexander Glazunov (1865–1936) appears hauntingly here in an arrangement for alto saxophone and piano. Commissioned by Barnfield, Córdoba (2022) by David Salleras shares its title with a city in the south of Spain and infuses, by its creator's description, its flamenco melody with melancholy. Framing the recording nicely, Salleras's seductive, serpentine setting reunites Barnfield with McNulty for a wide-ranging excursion that segues between urgency and reflection.

April 2024