Tenor saxophonist Walter Smith III opens this live date with a lengthy, freewheeling solo, ushering in a no-holds-barred, 13-minute workout of "Blues," which is followed by a Matt Brewer bass solo, clocking in at 2:38. But the rest of the disc hews closer to Smith's nature as a humble, ensemble-oriented stylist, less concerned with individual pyrotechnics than in superb frontline partnerships with trumpeters such as Christian Scott, Terence Blanchard, Sean Jones and now Ambrose Akinmusire. Smith and Akinmusire (who won the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Competition in 2007) costarred on each other's debuts in recent years, and songs from those two discs provide the bulk of the material here. The interplay on "Stablemates" (by tenor Benny Golson, a kindred spirit who also cherished sax-trumpet tandems) is a taut, snazzy, complex performance with equal appeal to the heart and the head. Akinmusire's "Aroca" is a pacific number reminiscent of "Maiden Voyage," with the judicious caress of pianist Adam Goldberg solemnifying the mix like a religious laying-on of hands. Live In Paris may well contain Akinmusire's best recorded work to date, largely because Smith gives him plenty space and permission to blossom, which occurs most notably at the beginning of "Himorme" and… read more »