Sarah Hanahan

Among Giants

Blue Engine

Welcome alto saxophonist Sarah Hanahan to the fold as she debuts on the JLCO label Blue Engine with Among Giants. , Hanahan has put her name on the map by performing and touring with renowned musicians including Peter Martin, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Joe Farnsworth, Steve Davis, and the Grammy award-winning Mingus Big Band. As a graduate of the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music, Hanahan honors alto legend McLean and his acolytes, who provide a prime source inspiration on her debut album.

She assembled a formidable rhythm section for the date, enlisting Marc Cary (piano), Nat Reeves (bass), and Jeff “Tain” Watts (drums). Bobby Allende plays percussion on gour tracks. As the title suggests, she strikes a balance between tradition and pushing ahead with a carefully curated mix of originals and standards. “New voices have pushed and pulled and conceptualized where jazz is today, but through it all, bebop has stayed constant and relevant,” Hanahan says. While that may suggest retro and fast tempo bebop tunes, the album sounds modern and varied. While Hanahan is a newcomer to recording the bass-drum tandem of Reeves and Watts have worked together for three decades and Cary, though his work with Betty Carter and Abbey Lincoln is as skilled as any comping for a lead voice.

 The opening track “Welcome” had this listener thinking Kenny Garrett or Lakecia Benjamin, two other leading altoists who have proven their spiritual chops in playing John Coltrane’s music. Hanahan is so convincing on “Welcome,” a rarely covered Trane tune from his album Transition, that her self-assuredness is established right away.  “NATO,” is an original written for Nat Reeves. This standout track has so many strong elements: a sturdy bass intro and solo from Reeves, a pulsating percussion section with Watts and Allende, and engaging turn from Cary, and a memorable melody expressed by Hanahan playing with heated aggression and building her final solo to a volcanic climax straddling the line between hard bop and spiritual.  Her closer, “We Bop!” is the perfect set list closer, with an infectious start-stop rhythm that will please the dancers in the audience. Hanahan claims, that, like most great jazz tunes, the ensemble never plays it the same way twice, citing that this studio version was different than any other they navigated. Watts’ whirlwind kit work leads to a dynamic, abrupt finale.

Original “Resonance” at mid-tempo, features strong individual statements from each quartet member with Hanahan’s fierce, hard-hitting take no prisoners approach completely mesmerizing. She moves into ‘beast mode’ as quickly and easily as many who have played for decades.  She does, however, reveal her tender side on Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “A House Is Not a Home” and a most delicate reading of Hoagy Carmichael’s “Stardust.” Her “Honey,” played to an Afro-Cuban rhythm, shows that she’s equally comfortable in that context while “On the Trail,” most often associated with Jimmy Heath in terms of saxophonists, has her cozily harking back to mid-sixties hard bop.

Had there been a few more originals here, it would be tempting to put her in the same conservation as Immanuel Wilkins in terms of an auspicious debut. Nonetheless, Hanahan has an arresting, commanding presence and is sure to be a force to be reckoned with.  We can’t wait to hear what path she takes next.

• Jim Hynes

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