Tineke Postma Quartet
Someday October 10, 2007
Tineke Postma – saxes
Rob Van Bavel – piano
Clemens van der Feen - bass
Chris Strik - drums
Tineke Postma's quartet brought its distinctive jazz style to a full crowd at Someday. It was the final night of the quartet's tour of Japan, and the musicians, all of whom come from Holland, seemed as interested in the reaction of Japanese fans, as the fans were eager. Postma's gorgeous sax sound reflected just how much European jazz has developed its own dialect, while the quartet's mastery of jazz showed their love of jazz and its great universality.
In the first set, Postma's duets with pianist Van Bavel really set the tone. With straight, clean lines, the two set a sincere approach to the music and wove intricate lines back and forth. With the quartet all on stage, the intro to "Autumn Leaves" and "Peace" slathered the classics in a flurry of notes. Postma's long, twisting sax lines darted and ran through the melody line, as if braiding a brand new melody with one strand of the old and two of her own. More than anything, the sophistication of the quartet came through in such striking approaches to the melodies.
It is hard not to compare European to American styles, and to ignore Postma's feminine approach to the saxophone, but the comparison comes out positive on both sides. Gender is an issue often ignored in the jazz world, but there is something feminine to her tone. Perhaps it is just the unhurried breathiness and the slightly different range of emotions, but whatever it is, it is very, very good. Her style is never angry or heavy, but not light or frivolous either. Her cascading style of improvising, though, is all her own as a musician, and has no gender to it as much as a sheer captivating energy. It would be absurd to even mention it, but the feminine approach, if it can even be called that, makes her style of saxophone elegant and resonant.
The rhythm section swings in a different way than most always blues-conscious quartets from America. Van Bavel's sophisticated chord substitutions create a lush, almost painstaking complexity. The subtleties of the harmonies make the quartet stand out from most quartets from any jazz tradition, but they also know how to rhythm-atize it all. Strik's drum work seemed unassuming, but a closer listen revealed his masterful sense of support, knowing right where to be and when. Van der Feen's underpinnings kept the entire group on the straight and narrow path of impeccable timing and hearty swing.
Even with the rhythm's hard work, it was hard not to keep your ears on Postma's sax playing. She has no "dirt" in her tone, and not really any funk, either. Yet, her playing soared all the farther from the earth-bound ordinariness because of that. Her sultry tone and cascading solos never overwhelmed what she wanted to say. Her playing always seemed to have a multi-directionality, moving sideways, then up and down, and in huge, forward arcs with ease. Her solos on the quicker numbers and standards really amazed.
Yet, it was the slow ballads, three in a row in the second set, which really grabbed the most attention. On these slower originals, she played with great emotionality. The slower tempo gave her time to express comfort and calm, a whole set of sincere emotions that is often lost in the rush to excite jazz fans. That confidence to explore the sadly lyrical was more point that made the audience of both young and old fans hopeful Postma will return to Japan again for another tour very soon.
October 16, 2007