Critic's Choice
RAVI COLTRANE

For much of his career, Ravi Coltrane steered clear of the influence of his iconic father, but lately he’s been willing to deal with it. He’s played Trane’s tunes in tribute projects and helped produce compilations of his music, and earlier this year I heard him play in Norway with Saxophone Summit, filling the shoes of the late Michael Brecker—one of the most popular and acclaimed disciples of John Coltrane. This change may have come about because Ravi has so firmly established his own style—his music sounds stronger and more individual than ever, and Blending Times, his first album in four years (due in January on Savoy Jazz), is a knockout. It reunites him with the sidemen from his previous disc—pianist Luis Perdomo, bassist Drew Gress, and drummer E.J. Strickland—and their brilliant, rigorous postbop creates the perfect platform for his authoritative voice, which draws on the complicated harmonies and tricky rhythms of today’s scene, deploying them both in hard-charging tangles of notes and in patient phrases that embrace silence. Here he’s joined by Strickland, pianist Geri Allen, and bassist Massimo Biolcati, who’s getting noticed for his work with Beninese guitarist Lionel Loueke.

See also Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Arrow 8 and 10 PM
Jazz Showcase
806 S. Plymouth
312-360-0234
$20.

—Peter Margasak