On Treading Air, Breathing Fire (Soluna records) ex-Detroit tenor saxophonist Jeff Marx is joined by John Esposito (piano), Ira Coleman (bass), and Peter O'Brien (drums) on eight original compositions. Marx is an exciting player who has clearly absorbed the lessons of John Coltrane and especially those of Wayne Shorter, who seems to be his model both as an improviser and as a composer. He has an admirable technique and plays with a passion that makes this more than just another tenor and rhythm date. The tunes are well paced with a good variety of moods and tempos and he is well served by the exceptional playing of his comrades, especially that of pianist Esposito. Marx knows how to pace a solo, building drama as he utilizes a broad range of harmonic, melodic, and saxophonistic techniques to tell his stories.

PIOTR MICHALOWSKI SEMJA

 

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 The sixteen minute live piece "Scare 'Em Stupid" could almost be worth the price of Jeff Marx's new recording alone. It begins with a complex tenor sax and piano dialogue that gives way to an evolving and simply killer sax solo mirrored by equally open piano and bass solos that change in tempo and mood. All of this is held together by some extremely tight drum work. The composition is a good reflection of the overall flow of his new recording, Treading Air, Breathing Fire.

 

The Chicago based saxophonist influences show hints of greats John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter. His voice is throaty with rapid bursts of notes and highly developed control. The eight selections are "straight-ahead modern post bop" if you're into labels, but the main consideration is the extremely tight performance of Jeff Marx's band. The group performs with a looseness that allows the music to be spontaneous and free in a variety of modes.

 

Two of the more notable names on the ticket are pianist John Esposito, who has worked with Pharaoh Sanders and Dave Douglas; and bassist Ira Coleman, who has performed with Herbie Hancock and the Tony Williams Quintet. Their performances, along with Marx and drummer Peter O'Brien's, are simply inspired. Esposito's talent pours out freely in the blissful "Treading Air" and the stirring "Song of The Trees" with elaborate and artistic solos. Ira Coleman is simply "the man" and delivers terrific bass lines that swell, dance, and ignite each piece. His solo on the odd metered "Forsaken" is a thing of beauty. All of this is kept in check by the sharp drumming of O'Brien.

 

Marx starts and finishes with the same vivid tenor sound that is not just about high style but more of feeling and earnest playing. With inflections, guttural tones, spiraling notes, and just simply playing his horn off, he's created quite a memorable recording. Highly recommended.

Mark Turner  -   AllAboutJazz.Com

 

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An album becomes an extraordinary work when it features playing that ventures beyond a category of art created simply to tickle the senses. Tenor saxophonist Jeff Marx' second album, Treading Air Breathing Fire , ponders metaphysical relations on an immense scale.

 

 

Most of the content takes the form of passionate dialogue between the four musicians, with Marx and pianist John Esposito leading the conversation with topics too intense for mere words. "Song of the Trees," the only tune not penned by Marx or Esposito, begins with an expansive introduction of piano and Peter O'Brien's drums that literally widens the magnitude of human reality. When Marx, who performed at Satalla last month with Reuben Hoch's Chassidic Jazz Project, plays a slow, deliberate melody over a frenzied piano, the sound seems to mimic the relationship of the planets moving through space at varying speeds, yet contributing to a single constant universe eternally in motion, forever expanding. Both Marx and Esposito have big, lush sounds and both play in a similar style, hashing out splats of notes interwoven with lustrous streams of consciousness that clench, not only with each other, but with O'Brien's drums and Ira Coleman's bass as well.

 

 

On the one live track, "Scare 'Em Stupid," O'Brien plays with a fantastically frantic aggression while Marx wildly churns out vibrantly diverse streams of notes. It's an Earth-shattering battle between horn and percussion that eventually simmers down to allow piano and bass to have their say. What they come up with is a dramatically intelligent debate containing a complex blend of time, meter and rhythm. When Coleman takes his solo we're reminded of the silent force of gravity and the beautiful stillness of dusk, as his skillful, clever voyage around the bass neck brings us back to a more Earthly state of mind.

Celeste Sunderland -  AllAboutJazz.Com

 

 

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