Ravita Jazz - Alice Blue (2025)

Like Stravinsky, bassist-composer Philip Ravita’s Alice Blue (2025), builds on tradition to conjure something fresh, balancing rigor with invention.

The album’s title refers to the painter’s azure pigment, and Ravita paints in colorful shades. Five originals, two Greg Small compositions, and three standards form the canvas, each arranged with both architectural clarity and improvisational fire. Ravita’s long résumé, sharing stages with Jimmy Heath, Claudio Roditi, Bobby Shew, Kim Nazarian, Akua Allrich, and Gabrielle Goodman, propelled to shine bright at the helm of his own ensemble.

The opening salvo, “Broken Light,” crackles with kaleidoscopic harmonies and rhythmic drive; “From the Start” presents gifted vocalist Deirdre Jennings, weaving supple lines over intricate interplay. The title track floats on Paul Carr’s soprano sax, Ravita’s bossa nova bass, and sly bebop nods, while “Almost Blue” bends blues forms through electric bass lines and retooled harmonics.

Jennings brings gospel fire to “I Can’t Stand the Rain,” buoyed by Mark Leppo’s congas and rain stick, while he delivers a buoyant and playful medley of “Fool in the Rain / Sunny Side of the Street.”

Small’s “Hereafter” explores shifting tonal centers with Carr’s sax glowing at the center; Ravita’s ballad “Blackout,” born from a literal loss of power, turns silence into communion; and “Golden Sky,” inspired by his Baltimore dawn runs, gives Carr room to channel Wayne Shorter’s exploratory spirit.

The closer, “Signal and Noise,” pits swing against Afro-Cuban pulse in a musical metaphor for clarity versus distraction.

Musicians: Philip Ravita, acoustic and electric bass; Paul Carr, soprano saxophone; Greg Small, piano and composer; Deirdre Jennings, vocals; Nuc Vega, drums; Mark Leppo, congas and percussion.~By Charlie Melville