Search - Kent Sangster :: Keeping the Spirit

Edmonton has churned out more than its fair share of musicians, thanks in part to a supportive live scene and post-secondary institutions like Alberta College and Grant MacEwan College. But although most of them can play pretty well, any passage, in any time signature and key, few can express themselves musically when the music stand is taken away. Not saxophonist Kent Sangster, one of the city's more innovative musicians, who has gone through everything from traditional jazz to fusion to stuff that's "out there". A regular on the live circuit, Sangster is always exploring new concepts and innovations to complement his rock-solid technique. Such interests, not to mention, his prowess on the reed, have ranked him among the country's finest players. On his independently produced second album, Keeping the Spirit, the Edmonton tenor-soprano saxist Kent Sangster, has enlisted a guitarist -- Jim Head, whose tone and approach are marginally edgier than Lofksy's -- rather than a pianist, to provide harmonic support. Also on hand are trumpeter/flugelhornist Bob Tildsley, bassist Jim Vivian and drummer Santo Dominelli, fine players one and all. Sangster is also under the sway of Coltrane, especially on the title track. In this case, though, the inspiration is directly traceable to the later, modal Coltrane of, say, A Love Supreme (although Coltrane's invocations were never based on 11-beat bars, as "Keeping the Spirit" is). Elsewhere, Sangster is more eclectic, drawing from the hard-bop tradition that includes the likes of Joe Henderson, Hank Mobley and Wayne Shorter. He has more contemporary inspirations as well. He's studied in (where else) New York with Joe Lovano and Dave Liebman, and it's not hard to spot their imprint on Sangster; the Lovano influence is particularly audible in Tadd Dameron's "Hot House," rendered here as a spunky tenor-drums duet. In terms of composition and overall feel, "Song for Bill" is reminiscent of an early Ornette Coleman ballad such as "Lonely Woman."