Rick Margitza - Color (1989/2020)

Rick Margitza's debut features the playing of a young tenor-saxophonist who mixes together the usual influences: Michael Brecker, Wayne Shorter and John Coltrane. In his favor is that Margitza's 11 originals (performed with a septet that includes guitarist Steve Masakowski, pianist Joey Calderazzo and Jim Beard on synthesizers) range from a Coltranish blues to the poppish "Color Scheme," from brooding ballads to uptempo straightahead explorations. The main weak point is that some of Margitza's solos sound as if he they were taken straight from exercise books. Less formal studying and more jamming will probably eventually eliminate that problem for Margitza certainly had the technique and the power at this early point in his career.