Sonny Fortune At Baker's Keyboard Lounge

Rising alto saxophone star Sonny Fortune swept into town early this month for a short-but-sweet six-day stay at Baker's Keyboard Lounge, where owner Clarence Baker is trying his luck with such novice touring groups as Fortune's excellent little quintet and the Muruga-Brubeck-Robinson trio (they split a week with the fine Mixed Bag band when guitarist Gabor Szabo cancelled out of the week after Sonny's.) Local favorite Marcus Belgrave filled in for the missing trumpeter Cecil Bridgewater in the Fortune unit, adding a taste of welcome Motown spice, and the evcr-curious Detroit crowd was treated to some hard-cooking main-stream jazz all week long.

Fortune is no youngster - after developing his craft tor many years, including stints with Miles Davis (he's featured on the current live release, Agartha) and McCoy Tyner, he's just now going out on his own as a leader, and his maturity is one of his strongest assets. His material, however, is less than powerful, so it generally takes him a few minutes to work into something interesting during his choruses. But When be starts to stretch out the music grows fierce and insistent, Fortune's saxophone singing and screaming with life, Chip Lyles' hypnotic drumming surging underneath, piano and bass churning out a chattering counter line to Sonny's soulful lead work. Belgrave had a little trouble with some of the (unannounced) charts, but once the chord patterns began to repeat his improvisations took off like a shot of light, drawing smiles and nods from his temporary colleagues.

Sonny Fortune and his band are a happy addition to the jazz circuit, offering some fresh.lively music with a few passages of pure, undiluted ecstasy. Now recording for A&M Records’ Horizon Jazz series, and with a second release about to hit the racks, this fiery young saxophonist should be with us tor some time lo come. Thanks, Clarence!

- John Sinclair