Chillin

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Opening with Ellington’s “Take the Coltrane,” David “Fathead” Newman’s late-1999 Chillin’ brims with his band’s talents and his own pressed, soulful tone. Newman shares geographical origins with fellow Texan saxophonists like James Clay, Booker Ervin, Illinois Jacquet, and Herschel Evans, with shades of each present in Chillin’. Also present, very frontally in the audio mix, is vibraphonist Bryan Carrott, who plays with a wealth of tone singing atop his mallet strikes. Pianist John Hicks, too, turns in a commanding, if subdued, performance, playing sweetly on “These Foolish Things” and very funkily on “The Whole Tzimmes.” Newman’s robust execution benefits from his overall melodic and dynamic sense, which clearly displays the influence of his longtime employer, Ray Charles. So it is that Newman wields his soprano and flute with no loss of this album’s core girth, which is at once Blue Note-era casual and brightly snazzy. –Andrew Bartlett

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