James Carter

Always unpredictable -- ever amazing -- Carter also released this invigorating, "feel good" tribute to guitarist Django Reinhardt as the avant-garde electro funk set Layin' In the Cut. He even breaks out the bass sax (which sounds like Bluto with a chest cold) on a couple of numbers. Top honors go to Django's evergreen "Manoir de Mes Reves."

<FONT FACE="arial,verdana,helvetica,sans-serif" SIZE="2">James Carter</font> <FONT
FACE="arial,verdana,helvetica,sans-serif" SIZE="2">Layin' in the Cut</font> <FONT
FACE="arial,verdana,helvetica,sans-serif" SIZE="2">Atlantic</font> 2000 At thirty-one,
saxophonist James Carter is as near as jazz gets nowadays to a Young Turk -- not some
ironically avant-post-rock experimentalist but a cocky scene stealer with a sust... More >

Sonically and conceptually, audacity is Carter's m.o. He always makes sure you know he's in the room. So on this bow to Django--an attention-getting device in itself, of course--he grabs hold of Reinhardt's famed "Nuages" with a totally inappropriate bass saxophone and never lets go. Does the European proud, too-even on soprano Carter is a gutty presence, overlaying just enough raunch for anyone who's always found the tributee a touch quiet. With two well-schooled moderns taking what are no longer lead lines on guitar and Regina Carter a more muscular Stéphane Grappelli, this is the spirit marriage a tribute should be. It swings like a horse thief, parlays Fransay, and adores the melody. (Grade - A)