Grego Applegate Edwards
Gapplegate Music Review
February 14, 2014

Connie Crothers has been making seminal new/avant jazz for many decades. And there is no excuse if she doesn't always get the recognition in the press she so deserves. It's all laid out in the recordings and you can catch her live in and around the city (New York).

She has a new album out that, after some quite exciting and engaging duets with some brilliant players, returns to her classic quartet. They played a set at the Jazz Room, William Paterson University in NJ, in 2010. Fortunately it was well recorded and the results are for us to appreciate in Deep Friendship (New Artists 1058).

This is the band best known for its freebop demeanor. That means that the music is outside the mainstream but has deep bop roots. Long-time Crothers associate Richard Tabnik blazes on alto sax. Even longer-time band member Roger Mancuso plays a loosely swinging set of drums. And Ken Filiano, a bassist known and appreciated for his work with Connie and others as well, is a key part as he has been for a while.

So why is this something to hear? It's some intricately hip after-bop numbers--three by Connie and two by Richard. They have been done before on earlier albums, but that in jazz just means they are serving as the springboard for a fresh improvisatory outlook, which is as true of this group as it is of any.

Richard blazes as a relative of Bird who has built his own nest--in other words, post-Bird. Ken walks beautifully and plays some excellent solos, too. Roger kicks out the jams both in time and in solo.

But I find myself on this album especially listening to what Connie is doing. When she comps the harmonies are thickened, sometimes to the point that they are flat-out clusters of dissonance and then, no, you get your bearings with some very rootsy chordal voicings and all in a flow that shows the deep, deep roots she has in the tradition but how much she pushes that tradition to the edge. That is what good freebop should do but often doesn't quite. With Ms. Crothers and the band they do so without fail. And Connie's solos show that too only perhaps even more so.

No one plays like this out there except Connie. Others may get in that zone but she is way ahead of them all when it comes to extensions and transformations of what has gone before.

Everything clicks on Deep Friendship. Connie shows us that she is at the top of the game. So do yourself a favor and dig in to this one! My highest recommendation for this one--and Matthew Shipp's from the other day. For the piano these are two sides to a brilliant coin. Years from now people are going to be kicking themselves saying, "why didn't I get with this music sooner?" Now is the time.

John Sharpe
The New York City Jazz Record
April 2014

A distinctive alto saxophonist joins Crothers on Deep Friendship, Richard Tabnik, part of her longstanding quartet, completed by bassist Ken Filiano and drummer Roger Mancuso. Tabnik studied with Lee Konitz, as well as Crothers, though that’s hardly the first name that springs to mind when regarding his sinuous stylings, angular attack and the vocalized quality in his upper register, heard to good effect on his own “Fortuity”. The quartet, captured live in 2010, betrays their years of familiarity through telepathic ensemble work and sparkling interaction. “Ontology”, a twisting line with boppish antecedents, comprises 13 minutes of joyful interplay and illustrates the astounding connection between the foursome. Crothers orchestrates and encourages from behind her keyboard by means of gloriously offkilter comping, probing counter-melodies and bracing arhythmic bursts while Tabnik rides the bucking rhythm section with aplomb. Filiano adds another dimension with his surefooted accompaniment and fine soloing, whether pizzicato or with bow in hand, while Mancuso, the least showy member of the quartet, keeps time with a light touch. His pulsing solo on the breezy “Roy’s Joy” is pitched against an unruly chorus of edgy piano figures and alto shout-outs, showing how it’s almost impossible for these guys not to get involved in the fun.

Vittorio Lo Conte
Music Zoom
November 2014

The music of pianist Connie Crothers has its roots in that of Lennie Tristano, with whom she studied for years. But she has forged her own original path, opening new dimensions in improvisation. Her quartet with alto saxophonist Richard Tabnik, whom she met in the 80s, and with Roger Mancuso, with whom she has been playing and recording since the 70s, is one of the most interesting organizations in contemporary jazz. Joining them this time is bassist Ken Filiano in a live concert recorded at William Paterson University. This spontaneously captured music features five compositions that the band has previously recorded on other occasions; but here they stretch out in a live context with extended solos. The fact that these musicians have known each other so well for decades gives the music and the solos a creative spontaneity. The music moves in its own direction without regard to contemporary mainstream trends. Richard Tabnik's saxophone solos are a pleasure to hear, his horn sounding like a human voice, lyrical, heart rending, at times capable of naturally transforming his sax into an oriental instrument, without losing any of the spontaneity with which he operates. He is one of the most original exponents of his instrument in contemporary jazz. Crothers' accompaniment as well as her soloing are models of creativity that do not conform to the standard canons. The four musicians follow their own paths in the context of improvisation, and this quartet establishes itself as one of today?s most interesting and creative groups. Mancuso, for example, has his own way of accompanying and dialoguing with the others, with his unstoppable drive that imbues the music with vitality. Filiano, whom we know from many contexts, both inside and outside of classical jazz, is a first-rate virtuoso, which he demonstrates in his long pizzicato solo in Roy's Joy. This band gives the contemporary mainstream a new, original face. The quartet pursues its own path without following or attempting to reproduce any of the successful models.