The Flows

Album Review

If you only know Ned Goold for backing Harry Connick, Jr., you've only heard part of the story. The Goold who asserts himself on The Flows (a collection of live performances from his 1999 tour of the United States) is a very different Goold — a much more cerebral, probing, and angular player. Forming a pianoless trio with bassist Ben Wolfe and drummer Ron Steen, the tenor saxophonist often recalls the pianoless recordings that Sonny Rollins provided in the late '50s and early '60s. Rollins, in fact, is a major influence on Goold; one hears a strong appreciation of Rollins in Goold's tone. But most of Rollins' work — not all of it, but most — is more accessible than what Goold does on these performances. Clearly, Goold identifies with Rollins' most intellectual albums (especially the '60s albums where the New Yorker offered some acknowledgment of the avant-garde), and he doesn't go out of his way to be accessible on angular originals like "Michael vs. Mikan," "Spoiled Rotten," and the title track. Goold, who must be accepted on his own terms, is equally abstract when he turns his attention to Charlie Parker's "Quasimodo," "Susie" (a tune that many fans of classic jazz associate with Bix Beiderbecke), and the Jerome Kern standard "All the Things You Are" (which is part of a medley that also includes trumpeter Kenny Dorham's "Prince Albert"). Overall, Goold handles himself well on these recordings, and the fact that he is able to back Connick one minute and do something totally different the next speaks well of the flexible saxman.