Couch Tour: The Roxy Coss Quintet, via Small’s Jazz Club, 10 September 2020
I dropped into this free one despite the fact that gluttony is a deadly sin and I was looking forward to my first concert with my Jazz Gallery membership in the early evening. But Roxy Coss has shown up as an articulate voice in the women in jazz articles in recent years and friend Fritz interviewed her for his Jazz Spectrum radio show.
She is a worthy player but not as exciting for my money as Melissa Aldana. She has a pretty stable quintet, solid compositional skills, and an academic background via the distinguished William Patterson University program which has Bill Charlap now but has had Thad Jones and Mulgrew Miller (one tune was dedicated to him) among the faculty. Her compositions are a fine launching point for her and the band. Like her playing, they can be exploratory but feel a bit studied. That probably is the difference with Aldana who seems more a creature of the clubs.
That said, she was so grateful to play with her band for the first time since March and they all rose to the occasions. I sensed little rust. Alex Wintz shares the front line on guitar. It works and he uses some pedals but is still well within a jazz framework. I really like pianist Miki Yamanaka who incongruously wore traditional Japanese attire (a kimono with the bundle in the back) while displaying real power at the piano and an amused engagement with her bandmates. She soloed early and well in the opener but her other openings were more limited. But she contributed in the rhythm section and in the open when she could, including, appropriately enough on “Mulgrew.” There she worked nicely with Jimmy MacBride on drums who was rhythmically inventive but not as magical at the kit as others of late. It may be a feature of the live feed but Rick Rosato’s bass only came through on a couple of solos.
Again, Coss’s playing is fluid, effective, and ranging, but I was even more struck with her compositions which showcase the band but also have a pointed programmatic character. The opener was “Mr. President” for the incumbent and so she hopes to retire it as a tune. Of course, it started turbulently before a burning straight ahead solo and Yamanka’s power. “Choices” was about abortion rights and the “Don’t Cross the Coss” closer was confident hard bop.
The center of the set was a newly completed suite of “Body/Soul/Heart/Spirit” with the last the result of quarantine. They are properly evocative and allow the band, but of course sax and guitar primarily, to explore. But she has composed/arranged nice interactions within the band to extend the conversation.
Once again, these streams are a chance to see players whom I know very sparingly, so it’s a gift.
Roxy Coss--composer, bandleader, tenor.
