Chris Byars’ sextet combines the best of two jazz worlds, the sophisticated sonic palette of the big band and the nimble nature of the smaller bop combo that leaves more room for soloists to shine. Leader and composer Byars, who here plays tenor sax, clarinet and flute, is perhaps strongest as an arranger, giving each of these tunes its own character and drawing on the many colorations possible from a mid-sized ensemble.
The Dark Forest is well sequenced, too, leading with the jaunty “Nihon No Uta,” which incorporates at least one tune from the Japanese traditional songbook from which it takes its title, followed by the swinging dancehall swing of “Touch And Go” and the frantic bop of “Ide Pistare Ide.”
The slower numbers like “Touch And Go” and the title track “The Dark Forest” allow Byars to showcase the multiple voicings, particularly combinations of woodwinds with John Mosca’s trombone. Zaid Nasser’s alto is sweet when paired with that trombone and Byars’s tenor, and Stefano Doglioni’s bass clarinet doubles Ari Roland’s bass line to great effect on the title song. The upright bass and bass clarinet open “Re-solutions” in lovely counterpoint with Byars’s tenor, to which the trombone and alto are shortly added for extra layers of complexity.
I was initially puzzled by “Ide, Pistare, Ide.” It’s played as an ultrafast bop, but it has a sound that I initially mistook as influenced by klezmer music. But Byars notes in a reel on his Instagram that it’s an old Roma tune that they learned while touring in the Balkans. Soloists Doglioni on bass clarinet, bassist Ari Roland (playing arco) and Byars himself lay down some impressive solo licks, but as Byars also points out it’s trombonist John Mosca who really knocks this one out of the park. Playing a slide trombone that fast, both in the solos and numerous fills, is no mean feat.
“Nihon No Uta” is clearly a showcase on this outing. My own top choice is the uptempo “This Account Is Private,” which melds bop and swing in a satisfying whole with lots of unison playing and plenty of vibrant solos. Album closer “Eleventh Street,” another swinging hard bop, is pretty sweet, too. This is Byars’s fifteenth album on SteepleChase, and he’s showing no signs of slowing down.
(SteepleChase, 2025)
