THE DAVE WILSON QUARTET, When Even Goes East

The title and overriding theme of The Dave Wilson Quartet’s When Even Goes East gives his fans a glimpse of his life before he was an in-demand jazz cat to the tune of 120 annual dates with big bands and small ensembles and headlining festivals, jazz clubs and private engagements while also owning and operating a woodwind based musical instrument company. The buoyant, percussive and coolly strutting title track feels like an adventurous ride with him years ago during his brief stint as a cab driver – and the title refers to Manhattan’s unique East-West grid system.

His first studio album in 11 years, Wilson’s set of originals and crafty, dynamics-filled re-imaginings of renowned and obscurities by some of the 60’s and 70’s premiere songwriters features a fresh, vibrant quartet that made its debut with him on his 2024 set Live at Silvana – pianist Jesse Green, bassist Evan Gregor and drummer Daniel Gonzalez, with legendary percussionist adding his inimitable intoxicating rhythms on five tracks.

The stylistically varied journey, which ventures from whimsical and barn-burning off-kilter originals like the opener “Let’s Go” to sensual slow burning gems a la “Slow Freeze,” is very different from previous works like his 2022 Coltrane exploration Stretching Supreme. Centering on his passion for gems from the classic rock era, Wilson and his ensemble mine the charming lyrical magic of Jackson Browne’s “These Days,” ease from a tender soprano sax-piano dreamscape to a fast burning, bustling improvisational jam on the Grateful Dead’s “Eyes of the World” and bring lighthearted soprano driven charm to “Adios,” a tune Jimmy Webb penned for Linda Ronstadt.

Elsewhere, Wilson and company reprise “The Fool on the Hill” from the last live album to hypnotic mystical effect, funk it up big time for Jimi Hendrix’s “Fire” (featuring what is perhaps Green’s most imaginative, adventurous solo) and closes with the smoky, sultry elegance of Webb’s classic “Wichita Lineman,” which allows Wilson to bring out the pathos of the lyrics even without a vocal.