The roots of post-bop tenor: Mark O'Connor Quartet salutes Stanley Turrentine and Eddie Harris

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Mark O'Connor performs with his current group.

One of the great things about jazz education at the university level is that accomplished musicians don't have to scramble to make a living. What's more, they have opportunities to share their artistry with the public while the academic gig formalizes their ability to pass what they know on to younger generations.

Of course, they have to put extraordinary effort into making their side hustle pay, not just financially but for the boost it provides to the skills they have mastered as they teach.  Mark O'Connor, who directs jazz studies at the University of Indianapolis, is building a long-term reputation with his current quartet: Shawn McGowan, keyboards; Jesse Wittman, bass, and Richard "Sleepy" Floyd, drums.

The ensemble presented a fine set of tunes associated with two post-bop saxophonists Tuesday night at the Jazz Kitchen. The open-hearted swinging styles of Stanley Turrentine and Eddie Harris were the focus of the show. Both figures in the late 20th-century pantheon were among O'Connor's heroes as he developed his personal mastery of the tenor saxophone.

An outstanding indication of O'Connor's comfortable, but not complacent, control in this material came in"Sugar" was flanked by Harris' "Cryin' Blues," which opened the set, and his "Born to be Blue" (a Mel Torme composition), which concluded with a nice touch from O'Connor's tenor, a diminished-volume chorus followed by a long solo cadenza that generated a huge ovation from the audience.  

The enthusiasm was building nicely so that Harris' "Freedom Jazz Dance" could coast on a peak of

Mark O'Connor leads a compatible quartet.
excitement. Turning to his organ keyboard, McGowan fashioned a fine solo with a great, sweeping decoration. Before this infectious piece was done, there was a simpatico duo of O'Connor and Wittman as drums and keyboard dropped out.

O'Connor inserted an original at this point. Called "The Sound of Joy," the blues-inflected theme moved easily forward, as it outlined its positive emotion without overemphasis. 

As an instrumentalist, O'Connor used the tenor's higher range judiciously on "Soft Pedal Blues," which followed a familiar tune ("Impressions") from another saxophone icon, John Coltrane. McGowan's keyboard playing blossomed with some climactic glissandos. 

The evening's honorees then each got a piece associated with him. "Cold Duck Time," which Harris lofted to prominence when it was included on the best-selling "Swiss Movement" LP, where he partnered with Les McCann, charmed with its boogaloo beat. Floyd got several episodes of soloing interspersed among bursts of melody. 

Then, picking up his electric bass, Wittman anchored the ensemble with "Sister Sanctified," a gospel-funk piece that typified the upbeat feeling of all the music the Mark O'Connor Quartet had to offer. It turned out there was nothing professorial about this seminar on Turrentine and Harris that a large audience audited with pleasure.

[Photos: O'Connor solo (Mark Sheldon), group (Rob Ambrose)]



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