Chet Doxas: You Can't Take It With You
Whirlwind Recordings
Like many a jazz album, You Can't Take It With You was recorded in a single day—Sept 27, 2019 at Oktaven Audio in Mount Vernon NY, to be exact—but, also like many a jazz album, is the culmination of decades of life experiences and broad listening. In fashioning its ten pieces, tenor saxophonist Chet Doxas pays tribute to everyone from Lester Young and Jim Hall to Fred Rodgers, Joan Miro, and Mark Twain. Doxas's parents, Carla Bley, and Steve Swallow also figure into the project as inspirations. Upon telling the latter pair how much he valued the trio music they'd made with saxophonist Andy Sheppard, Bley suggested he start his own trio and followed that by encouraging him to write one composition per month for the group, such that after a year he'd have enough new material to perform and make an album with the nascent outfit.
Just as the gestation period for the trio's material happened over time, so too did the selection of personnel. As the year progressed, Doxas found the trio's sound crystallizing in his mind and who might help him realize it. Over time, a list of possible candidates whittled down to two, Ethan Iverson on piano and Thomas Morgan on double-bass. In being three voices only, a trio's members are critical to its identity, and all in this instance bring technical acumen and distinctive sensibilities to the endeavour. You'll hear no weak link in the album's inspired dialogues.
The three ease into the opening title track like they've been together for years, the rapport immediately evident and the clarity of the mix capturing the interactions vividly. Morgan appears first, after which the others voice unison lines—a strategy that occurs throughout in the different pairings that emerge within each piece. Doxas purrs enticingly as swing sets in, with Morgan walking behind the bluesy swagger of the others and Iverson serving up the first of many classy solos that build on tradition with imagination. The leader does the same, his strong tenor coyly alluding to others while at the same time forcefully asserting his personality. “Lodestar (for Lester Young)” leaves no doubt as to the source of its inspiration, the homage crafted to honour Young's rhythmic side. As arresting, however, are the percussive splashes Iverson plays from the piano's insides to punctuate the ascending phrases the others insistently state in tandem. Doxas isn't averse to adventurousness either, as shown by the growling attack he uses to introduce “Cheryl and George,” named after his parents and based, aptly, on the structure and chord changes of “Body and Soul.” Warm and lyrical in tone, the tune was consciously fashioned by Doxas to capture the love and respect in their relationship. A title like “The Last Pier,” on the other hand, demands a dark, noir-like treatment and the ruminative exploration fits the bill, especially when it boasts a romantic turn by Doxas.
His English teacher mother helped bring Mark Twain into the Doxas home, which helps account for the folksy “riverboat feel” of “Twelve Foot Blues” and the infectiously swinging rhythm that buoys the tune like Huck's raft on the Mississippi River. Watch for the “I Got Rhythm” nod and how Iverson and Morgan seemingly channel Ellington and Blanton at one point. Eventually the tune turns Monkish, with Doxas similarly recalling a forebear, in his case Charlie Rouse.
“Up There in the Woods” sees Jim Hall honoured with a playful reverie, the song inspired by his book Exploring Jazz Guitar and written with the idea in mind of the saxophonist joining the guitarist at his home ‘up there in the woods' to play together. After seeing Rogers accept a lifetime achievement award and using the moment to ask everyone in attendance to spend ten seconds thinking about people who'd made a difference in their lives, Doxas wrote the suitably reverential meditation “All the Roads” to honour the beloved TV icon. “View From a Bird” offers one final tribute, this one a playful and affectionate homage to Joan Miro that Doxas actually wrote while viewing the painting Femme, oiseau, étoile at Madrid's Reina Sofia museum.
If Doxas, who's originally from Montreal but has called Brooklyn home for nearly a decade, sounds at ease as a player on the release, he should: You Can't Take It With You is his twelfth album as a leader or co-leader, so by now he's as comfortable playing in the studio as in his living room. It didn't hurt either that the trio had performed the night before the studio date and subsequently played the tunes in the same order as at the gig. The result? Performances marked by confidence, connection, spontaneity, and, as important, personality.December 2021