TUESDAY, July 15, 2003

By BEN RATLIFF
New York Times Critic

So much jazz has been a matter of virtuosity; quality always pays off in the short game. But when the tempos slow down, or the person in charge of choosing songs leans toward the sturdiest stuff, or the rhythm section starts positing solid groove over fractured patterns, then the better musicians steer into an area which, for lack of a better term, we can call soul. These three recordings are soulful: not destined to create any new categories or shake up any Paganinis, but beautifully played.

Blue Gardenia Charles Davis

This was a good idea: getting the 70-year old saxophonist Charles Davis, who has played in supporting roles with Dinah Washington, Steve Lacy, Kenny Dorham, Sun Ra, Barry Harris and others, to make a lasting artifact as a bandleader. For a tiny independent label, Reade Street Records, it didn't take much more than setting him up with the new version of the pianist Cedar Walton's trio, a crackling example of jazz's maturing mainstream.

Mr. Davis is best known for playing the baritone saxophone, but for the first half of the album he plays tenor with a rather elegant understatement. He balances melodic embellishment with the kind of magpie's relationship to chords that Coleman Hawkins practiced, running up and down them, creating exotic intervals. And the material is well chosen: Mr. Davis's own elegant blues waltz "Texas Moon," tunes by his friends Frank Lacy and John Weston, and "A Beautiful Friendship" and "Blue Gardenia," not the most widely covered standards in the world. The rhythm section, with Mr. Walton, the bassist Peter Washington and the drummer Joe Farnsworth, plays impeccably, finding perfect tempos and a beautifully even projection of sound. If stores fail, you can find this album at www.readestreetrecords.com.

Copyright 2003 The New York Times.