John Stein - Hustle Up! (1995)

Tracklist

01. Poor butterfly
02. Eleanor's folly
03. Lingering
04. Hustle up!
05. Sarenna
06. Hannita
07. Bye bye blackbird
08. Indian summer
09. Elizabeth
10. Bootin' it

This Knitting Factory debut (Tightly Knit is a subsidiary) of guitarist John Stein is a bit of a mixed bag. With his own quartet that includes pianist Bruce Torff, bassist Marshall Woods, and drummer Les Harris, Sr., and a pair of guests in organist David Liminia and alternate drummer Dave Hurst on three cuts, Stein runs through a program of mostly original material that is littered with curious choices for interpretive reading. The set opens with the trio playing a completely snoozy rendition of "Poor Butterfly." Given the tune is a ballad, and Stein is not known for being an overdriven player anyway, but here, with his rhythm section almost absent, he slinks along the melody line in a straighter-than-narrow fashion and indulges his own highly developed harmonic intuition for only about eight bars while letting the rhythm section keep a monotonous pace throughout. This is a curious way to open a recording. Things get redeemed a bit over the next three tracks with the other players, on the bluesy swing mood and intensely lyrical and angular arpeggios Stein plays on "Eleanor's Folly." There is also a bit of stunning interplay in the middle section between guitar and organ. On the title track, a straight-ahead post-bop swinger, Stein does what he does best and creates a shimmering melody that cooks along a harmonic line as it is accented by the rhythm section so he can interject some of those legendary fills of his. Having the organ backdrop fleshes out the groove a bit, making it all fleet, sleek, and shiny. The rest is a mixed bag as well, where Stein alternates between snoozy indulgent ballads and smoking innovative guitar-o-nomics with his quartet, who don't cut loose often enough in the recording session the way they do live.