CD Review: Reflections – Eric Person

If you’re the sort of music fan who gives liner notes a close reading, you may recognize Eric Person’s name from his work with Chico Hamilton, Ronald Shannon Jackson, Dave Holland, McCoy Tyner, the World Saxophone Quartet, David Murray, singer/songwriter Ben Harper and many others. A St. Louis native who now lives in Brooklyn, NY, Person has proven himself a valuable sideman in a variety of musical contexts, but since making his first solo CD in 1993, he’s also amassed a substantive body of work as a leader and composer.

Reflections is a compilation drawn from previous CDs on the Soul Note and Distinction label, and thus provides a convenient entry point for those who are unfamiliar with his solo career.

Now 42 years old, Person is part of a generation of players who grew up hearing funk and fusion as well as hard bop and free jazz, and all those elements are present in his music. And like many saxophonists of his age cohort, he inevitably was influenced to a degree by John Coltrane, an inspiration most apparent here on the opening track “Perfection,” which features tricky rhythmic shifts that evoke sheets-of-sound arpeggios from Person’s alto, eventually spurring him on to some heated overblowing at the climax of his solo.

Elsewhere, Person mostly favors a tart, compact sound on alto, often without much perceptible vibrato, and seems to rely on quirky melodic ideas and nimble negotiation of intervallic leaps more than on timbral and tonal variations. On soprano sax, his playing has a somewhat elliptical quality that, when paired with an electronic backdrop on a tune like “When Morning Comes,” recalls Wayne Shorter’s work with Weather Report.

Another of the standout cuts, “Reach!” shows off Person’s funky side, and while he definitely gets down in the groove, he also laces his R&B licks with just enough harmonic abstractions to avoid predictability. As a composer, Person mostly eschews the standard head-solos-head formula, varying his musical forms and moods from the almost childlike, skipping melody of “Mr. More or Less” to the knottier time changes, jagged melodic line and frenetic conclusion found in “Etc.,” one of three previously unreleased 1998 live cuts on the CD that team Person with trumpeter Dave Douglas.

Given Douglas’ artistic reputation and high profile in the media, one can understand why Person would issue these tracks now, and it's not like the music is substandard - all three feature some fiery performances and are certainly worth hearing. But the saxophonist’s music is certainly strong enough to stand on its own, without gimmicks or guest stars, and Reflections is clear evidence that this is one Person who’s well worth knowing.

You can purchase Eric Person's CD Reflections from CD Baby.

(Edited for clarity immediately after posting.)