Lew Tabackin
Reviews
From Billy Kerr – Saxophone Journal
Live In Paris – Lew Tabackin Trio
Practically from the instant a musician decides to play jazz, the quest begins tofind a personal voice. The process can sometimes take a lifetime; someindividuals never really find one. To find a personal voice on more than one
instrument is almost impossible, unless your name is Lew Tabackin.
Long one of the most assertive, hard-driving tenor players in jazz, his voice onthat horn started with a much different timbre when he burst onto the New York
jazz scene in the 1960s. Playing with bands led by Cab Calloway, Joe
Henderson, Thad Jones & Mel Lewis, Duke Pearson, and Maynard Ferguson,
Tabackin's sound was lighter by comparison (though not a light sound by anyother measure) and his playing was strongly influenced by John Coltrane andSonny Rollins. While a member of Calloway's band, Tabackin discovered Chuck
Berry and began to incorporate Berry's sound and style into his own playing.
While Tabackin's melodic, rhythmic and harmonic language is as fresh as today's
warm bread, his tonal palette harkens back to Berry, Coleman Hawkins and Ben
Webster.
Tabackin's flute voice is about as individual as humanly possible; he simply does
not sound like anyone else. His roots on flute go very deep, having started the
instrument long before playing saxophone; Tabackin majored in flute at thePhiladelphia Conservatory of Music. His flute voice is an amalgamation ofclassical purity and Japanese culture. His lines are not bebop (not that there's
anything wrong with that....) but rather, cross cultural melodic/rhythmic
statements of fact. His beautiful, singing sound mixes with an amazing intensitythat lifts the listener right out of their seat.
The music here comes from a performance at the Pinot Jazz Club in Paris,
France, March 28, 2007. The band, Tabackin's regular working group (known as
Lew Tabackin and the International Trio), has been together for more than adecade, andincludes Boris Kozlov (bass) and Mark Taylor (drums).
The CD opener, Self Portrait of the Bean, written by Duke Ellington for Coleman
Hawkins, begins with a solo tenor cadenza of sorts. Tabackin's open, rich soundimmediately pays tribute to the "Grand Master" ofthe tenor saxophone,incorporating
growls, and a rich sub-tone down to low Bb. Tabackin's lines are a mixture of thearpeggiated chords identified with Hawkins, and the more modern scale/chordpatterns associated with Coltrane and Rollins. In the space of approimately sixty

seconds Tabackin manages to pass through eight different emotional "timezones." When bass and drums enter, the tempo is a moderate "business man's
bounce" as Tabackin plays the melody. His solo is a masterpiece of melodic
invention, one motive neatly unfolding into the next, telling a story filled withwisdom.
Till the End of Time, an adaptation of Chopin's Polonaise in A Flat, is up next andis a straight-ahead blowing tune that swings its head off. Tabackin's solo builds inmusical content and intensity with each chorus, and while he is not one to harborlicks and cliches, he does manage a quote from Mack the Knife and, On the
Trail. He covers the entire range of the horn, bottom to top. Kozlov follows with aterrific arco bass solo
for several choruses. Tabackin is in for several more powerful choruses before
trading fours with Taylor and the reprise of the melody.
One of the highlights of any Tabackin performance comes when he plays theflute. The good news is he turns in a masterful flute performance on John
Coltrane's Wise One; the bad news is, it's the only flute tune on the CD. As soonas Tabackin plays his first, rich, beautiful note, d above the staff, you realize you
are in the presence of greatness. His a cappella intro is rich in nuance and color,
you hear the Japanese influence, pitch
bends, foot stomps et al. The melody is played over a pedal tone played by acrobass, and Tabackin solos over an Afrollatin groove when drums enter. To try to
put into words what happens musically is futile, you must hear this for yourself.
Thelonious Monk is represented by two great tunes, Eronel and Ask Me Now.
Eronel begins with Tabackin playing a wonderful a cappella intro that includes
excerpts from several Monk tunes, including Epistrophy, Bemsha Srulng (withsome terrific multiphonics for punctuation) and Monh's Mood. When bass anddrums enter, the three cats hit a medium groove that swings till the cows comehome. Ask Me is played as a warm, beautiful ballad. Tabackin's musical lines areplayed with passion, soul and unending creativity.
The final tune, I'll Be Seeing You, a closer the trio uses often, is an up-tempo
romp that will leave you smiling. Tabackin has long been revered as a jazz
master, and this performance gives all the testimony needed to support that idea.
Drummer, Taylor, gets to stretch out in a well-formed solo before engaging in atenor/drum duet and the final recap ofthe melody.
Playing with only bass and drums is not for the faint of heart, but Tabackin iscompletely at home in this setting. This recording presents Tabackin, his two
personal musical voices, and his cohorts at their best; check them out.

From JazzObserver.com
Toshiko Akiyoshi & Lew Tabackin at Yoshi's
Early in her 8:00 set at Yoshi’s San Francisco, pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi spoke incharmingly accented English about the salad days of her six-decade career. She
said that after spending her youth in Japan absorbing and imitating otherpianists, she eventually realized “the need to find my own idiosyncracies.”
The highly individualistic voice she discovered was on prominent display in thishard-swinging quartet gig, along with the turbo-charged sax and flute playing of
Akiyoshi’s husband, Lew Tabackin. Although few were on hand to hear thisstripped-down alternative to their acclaimed big band, Akiyoshi and Tabackinfilled the void with a quirky, vibrant brand of high-energy bebop.
Akiyoshi’s style can take a couple of tunes to adjust to, and her unaccompanied
solo break in the opening “Long Yellow Road” (Akiyoshi’s de facto theme song)
was like a crash course. Swinging yet fascinatingly mercurial, her left handsounded tart, staccato chords and sudden dissonant crashes, while her rightswirled like a dust devil or fluttered willy-nilly like a butterfly, prancing
unpredictably and with impish humor.
Tabackin was the dominant force through much of the set. Solid and squarejawed, bending at the waist and knees, Tabackin scuttled a few steps forward orback in frequent moments of blazing intensity. On tenor saxophone, he provided
explosive outbursts linked by flowing supersonic flights, his incredible breath
control making it all sound seamless. And his tribute to Coleman Hawkins in “Self
Portrait of the Bean” poured out like whiskey, a gruff, bluesy ode to the nightowls.
But Tabackin’s finest moment came on flute. “Autumn Sea” felt like a kabuki
theatre performance, coming down from Akiyoshi’s bright, bouncing intro to a
hauntingly expressive, shakuhachi-like solo, slow and vast, punctuated bystamps of Tabackin’s foot and, later, low mallet work by drummer Mark Taylor.
Taylor and bassist Peter Washington kept the sound fresh with brisk, skippingrhythm, providing just the right balance of straightforward drive and agile
openness for the co-leaders’ unique east-west bop attack. It’s a sound that
lingers in the ear, idiosyncratic indeed, and greatly satisfying.

From Der Bund (English Translation original German version follows)An Amazing Jazz Surrealist
By Tom Gsteiger
The saxophone player Lew Tabackin has a long beard – his music
fortunately doesn’t.
No signs of being mellowed by age. 1940 born Lew Tabackin still enjoys riding
on the fast lane. Sometimes he races so extremely fast through the registers of
his instrument, that you nearly get dizzy. Astonishing is, with what kind of
elegance Tabackin plays his sprints and salti mortali. He is up to every trick!
His gig at Marian's Jazz room he was in great company. Pianist Dada Moroni is
an exeptionally gifted musician as well, from heavy block accords to racy bopruns to power play ala McCoy, he knows it all. Moroni has his influencesinternalized so sovereignly, that you never feel like being in a second hand shop.
And there is reason for Peter Washington being one of the most demanded Bass
players of the new york straight ahead scene.
Jason Browen is the opposite of an spectacular drummer, he never intends tocome to the fore, he looks after the art of tasteful swing. The combination in thisband works.
That Tabackin’s Repertoire mostly consists out of the times of swing and bebop
is no coincidence. Opposite to most of the other saxophone player of his
generation he doesn’t follow John Coltrane. Last not least his vibrato rich, fullbodied sound shows, that he intensively argued with the “heroic tenors”, whodelivered the soundtrack to the hedonistic decadent era , that F.Scott Fitzgerald
raised a monument with “the great Gatsby”.
Opposite to the 14 years younger Scott Hamilton Lew Tabackin is not an diehard
nostalgic, but peps his sometimes racy, sometimes opulent rhapsodic Swing withmodern bebop and a bit of surrealism. What David Liebman as an sopranosaxophonist does with with the music of John Coltrane , Tabackin does as tenor
saxophonist with the music of Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster a & co. Hemodernizes them in a very discrete way, without destroying their genre.

From Der Bund (Original German Version)
Stupender Jazz-Surrealist
Von Tom Gsteiger. Aktualisiert am 22.10.2009

Der Tenorsaxofonist Lew Tabackin hat einen langen Bart – seine Musikzum Glück nicht.
Von Altersmilde kaum eine Spur: Der 1940 geborene Lew Tabackin fühlt sich auf
der Überholspur nach wie vor am wohlsten; manchmal jagt der Tenorsaxofonist
so extrem schnell durch die Register seines Instruments, dass einem schier der
Schwindel packt. Das Erstaunliche dabei ist, mit welcher Souplesse und Eleganz
Tabackin seine Spurts und Salti mortali hinkriegt: Hier ist ein mit allen Wassern
gewaschener Jazz-Virtuose am Werk.
Sein Gastspiel in Marians Jazzroom absolviert Tabackin in guter Gesellschaft.
Der Pianist Dado Moroni ist ebenfalls ein begnadeter Gaspedal-Maestro – vonüppigen Blockakkorden über rasante Bop-Läufe bis zu Powerplay à la McCoy
Tyner hat er alles drauf. Moroni hat seine Einflüsse so souverän verinnerlicht,
dass man sich als Zuhörer nicht wie in einem Secondhand-Shop vorkommt.
Peter Washington zählt nicht von ungefähr zu den gefragtesten Bassisten der
New Yorker Straight-Ahead-Szene (zum Beispiel als Mitglied im exquisiten Triodes Pianisten Bill Charlap). Jason Brown ist das Gegenteil eines spektakulären
Schlagzeugers: ein sich nie in den Vordergrund drängender Time-Keeper, derdie Kunst des geschmackvollen Swingens pflegt. Die Mischung in dieser Bandstimmt: Spektakulärer Hyperaktivismus und schnörkellose Geradeaus-Grooves
halten sich die Waage.
Kein Nostalgiker
Dass Tabackins Repertoire zu einem guten Teil aus Stücken aus der Zeit vonSwing und Bebop besteht, ist kein Zufall. Im Gegensatz zu vielen anderen
Tenorsaxofonisten seiner Generation bewegt er sich nicht im Fahrwasser vonJohn Coltrane: Nicht zuletzt sein vibratoreicher, vollmundiger Sound verrät, dasser sich intensiv mit den «Heldentenören» auseinandergesetzt hat, die denSoundtrack zur hedonistisch-dekadenten Epoche lieferten, der F. Scott
Fitzgerald mit «The Great Gatsby» ein literarisches Denkmal setzte.
Im Gegensatz zum 14 Jahre jüngeren Scott Hamilton ist Tabackin keinunverbesserlicher Nostalgiker, sondern peppt sein mal schnittiges, mal opulentrhapsodisches Swing-Vokabular mit Bebop-Modernismus und einer Prise
Surrealismus auf. Was David Liebman als Sopransaxofonist mit der Musik vonColtrane macht, macht Tabackin als Tenorsaxofonist mit der Musik von Coleman
Hawkins, Ben Webster & Co. Er aktualisiert sie auf eigenständige Weise, ohne
ihren Geist zu zerstören. Tabackin hat einen langen Bart
– seine Musik zum Glück nicht.

From AllAboutJazz.com

Across the fairgrounds on Bill Berry Stage another veteran pianist, Toshiko
Akiyoshi, showed that, at 80, she really is as good as ever. A Bud Powellprotege, former band leader and arranger, she vigorously attacked the piano,
setting a lightning fast tempo on her "Long Narrow Road." Her co-leader,husband Lew Tabakin, was peerless on tenor and flute. On Akiyoshi's "Autumn
Seed," Tabakin's flute evoked rustling breezes while drummer Mark Taylor
provided Kabuki flavor. The band also included the wonderful Peter Washington
on bass. He and Tabakin collaborated on Oscar Pettiford's "Tricotism," the tenor
getting almost in the face of the bass. While soloing, Tabakin is constantly inmotion, rocking back and forth, roaming the stage; he gets into it with his wholebody.
First Place, Flute, Swing Journal Reader's poll, 2007, 2008
NY Times
July 20, 2007
Music Review
Sounds to Quiet a Crowd While Recalling Faded Times
By BEN RATLIFF
On Wednesday, Lew Tabackin played at Smalls, a square, shallow basement
club in the West Village where the drummer sat about an arm’s reach from theend of the bar. There was some talking in the back at the start of the set, and at
first Mr. Tabackin played near a microphone. But then the talking stopped andthe place felt like a soundproof room.
Mr. Tabackin, playing tenor saxophone, walked away from the microphone andstarted moving with his phrases, jerking up a knee and rearing his head back; hisnatural sound suffused the place for the rest of the set. He used the microphone
again only to play the flute - which he does better than most flute players in jazz,with a sound that starts strong and doesn’t flicker away.
But the sound of his saxophone playing was the draw. It had a slight rasp, soft
subtones in the low notes and even control through the registers; he scatteredstylized shakes of vibrato all through his playing. His phrasing isn’t that eccentric
but can intimate eccentricity, with jumbles of intervals, gargling sounds, long
streams of notes. He always acknowledged the swing accents of the rhythm
section and the arrival of the next bar. And his soloing was full of larger-scale
form, too: like Coleman Hawkins, he built up his big statements to a single,
brusque falsetto shriek, then closed off the thought with a sense of symmetry.
The set contained a few originals, a ballad standard full of fast, braying lines (“I’ll
Be Seeing You”) and some ’50s jazz that ran parallel to bebop: Oscar Pettiford’s

“Tricotism,” Thelonious Monk’s “Eronel” and “Ask Me Now.” But its subtext held
two larger truths about jazz. One is that we should take jazz’s old, disappearing
virtues of sound and form where we find them. The other is that someone like Mr.
Tabackin might be best appreciated in a place that can fit only about 100 people- a lousy business model, perhaps, but one that lets a listener really feast on
sound, wallow in it and remember it.
Mr. Tabackin developed his craft in the late ’50s and early ’60s, which means
he’s old enough to know the importance of a big, round saxophone sound. This
was the standard set by jazz tenor players through the middle of the last century- those, like Hawkins, who played in big bands, with singers, in roadhouses anddancehalls, who had to make their mark on popular ballads that dancers knew intheir bones.
But he was also the right age to absorb the Sonny Rollins trio records from 1957
and 1958. Those records were buoyant and playful, full of the sense of discovery
that a saxophonist could sound good leading a band, without a chordal
instrument like guitar or piano, and that playfulness set the dimensions for
Wednesday’s set. One original piece, “Studio F,” sounded like a cousin to the
melody from Mr. Rollins’s “Freedom Suite,” but the similarity was much moregeneral. The trio’s bassist, Boris Kozlov, and its drummer, Mark Taylor, played
bouncing melodic figures with limited volume; they were pursuing a durable idealof swinging without getting in the way. And Mr. Tabackin, within precise limits, lethimself go.

Washingtonpost.com
Mike Joyce
Lew Tabackin, Saluting Smartly"The Kennedy Center's "100th Birthday Tribute to Coleman Hawkins" at the KC
Jazz Club on Saturday night fell in the category of "better late than never." Far,
far better. Hawkins, who was actually born in 1904, established the tenor sax as
a prominent voice in early jazz and subsequently achieved both commercial andcritical success. Saturday night veteran tenor-man Lew Tabackin took on thedaunting task of evoking Hawkins's deeply resonating tone and bold stylistic
innovations. There were reminders of Hawkins's seemingly effortless transition
from swing to bop, his daring forays into unaccompanied tenor sax
performances, and his commanding (and often surprising) way with a romantic
ballad.
Like the evening's honoree, Tabackin displayed great harmonic and rhythmic
assurance as he moved through a series of mostly quartet arrangements thatfeatured an exceptional array of talent: pianist Mulgrew Miller, bassist PeterWashington and drummer Mark Taylor. The performances included a melodicallyintriguing salute to Hawkins's landmark recording of "Body and Soul"; a short,unaccompanied improvisation inspired by Hawkins's unprecedented "Picasso"
period in the late 1940's; and a warmly evocative, brush-stroked rendering of"Self Portrait (of the Bean)," which recalled the late reedman's collaborations withDuke Ellington.
During the concert, part of the Kennedy Center's ongoing "1940s and the Arts"
series, Tabackin briefly veered from the tenor sax program so as not todisappoint anyone who came to hear him play flute. As it turned out, though,some of the melodic twist he brought to Jerome Kern's "Yesterdays" didn't soundfar removed from Hawkins's bountiful legacy."Star-Ledger
Tuesday June 15, 2004
Zan Stewart
Fine music abounds at Jazzfest"Lew Tabackin salute to Coleman Hawkins
Good music was in abundance on Sunday's program of the Aventis
Pharmaceuticals New Jersey Jazz Society Jazzfest 2004. Marking the 29th
anniversary of the NJJS event, Jazzfest was also held Saturday, both days on
the grounds of Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison.
A particular highlight was tenor saxophonist Lew Tabackin's celebration of
Coleman Hawkins (1904-1969), whose centennial. Along with Count Basie's andFats Waller's, was being feted at the festival. Performing in Dreyfuss Auditorium,
Tabackin worked sans microphone, and his handsome, expansive sound variously grainy, breathy, crying, and ringing -- easily reached the back row.
Tabackin teamed with trumpeter Randy Brecker and drummer Mark Taylor, twoveteran associates, pianist David Hazeltine and bassist Dennis Irwin. The set ran
from tunes that Hawkins wrote, such as "Rifftide," to his hit in 1939, "Body andSoul."The tenor man described "Rifftide" as a "New Jersey tune," because it is almost
identical to a Thelonious Monk composition known as "Hackensack" In
characteristic fashion, Tabackin was a powerhouse, using short, swinging
thoughts, phrases where he smeared his notes, and dashing lines to deliver his
mainly song-like message. The consummate Brecker, with a warm-to-cracklingsound, played bold, high notes in a Dizzy Gillespie vein, happy, swinging ideas ala Louis Armstrong, and deft, intricate lines that recalled Fats Navarro. Hazeltine,
Irwin and Taylor were likewise top-drawer."

The Columbus Dispatch
Thursday Octobar 28, 2004
Curtis Schleber
Drew Jr., Tabackin take menu of classic tunes, make 'em cook
"The words jazz and hit might seem contradictory together. But when a jazzpiece becomes familiar to a large audience, it serves to welcome the listener.
That was the case when the Columbus Jazz Orchestra opened its "Swingin' At
The Southern" series last night.
The program was a home run for the ensemble not only because the musicianssidestepped the shopworn tone of such tunes as Jumpin' at the Woodside,
Someday My Prince Will Come and Do Nothing 'Til You Hear From Me, but
because guest pianist Kenny Drew Jr. and saxophonist Lew Tabackin nearlyoutshone the material.
Drew dazzled with remarkable technical ability, displaying chops that showed hisclassical training and a terrific pedigree. (Drew Sr. is a highly respected pianist
who recorded with John Coltrane, Dexter Cordon, Buddy Rich and many others.)
Drew Jr. poured it all out during an extended introduction to Ellington's It Don't
Mean a Thing (if it Ain't Got That Swing), deconstructing the melody at a blinding
pace. The orchestra came in at a fraction of the tempo, accenting the piano. The
streams conflicted at first and then joined in a bracing outing that included the"kitchen sink" from Drew and a smoking solo from saxophonist Michael Cox.
Drew's medley of Ellington's Single Petal of a Rose and Prelude to a Kissfeatured a lovely pastoral Rose
The Columbus Jazz Orchestra will present " The Jazz Hit Parade, withsaxophonist Lew Tabakin and pianist Kenny Drew Jr., at 8 tonight throughSaturday night and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday in the Southern Theatre, 21 E. Main
St. Tickets cost $24 to $48, or $5 for ages 13 to 18t at the Jazz Arts Group office(6142945200, Ext. 3), the Ohio Theatre box office (614469-0939) andTicketmaster outlets (614-431-3600).
Tabackin's contributions were on a higher level still. A veteran of 30 years coleading the Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Big Band with his pianist wife,
Tabackin Is a brilliant and emotive improviser at the top of his form.
Among the spotlights last night, Billy Strayhorn's Chelsea Bridge not only
provided the evening's high, but one of the most powerful performances theColumbus Jazz Orchestra has hosted in several years.

Tabackin opened with an extended unaccompanied solo that twisted
marvelously, celebrating and re-examining the song's lush melody. When theband joined, he continued to explore the tune with a structuralism akin to Sonny
Rollins' and a storytelling ability that recalled Lester Young.
He found the gorgeous contradictions in the song: It is muscular and gentle,
emotionally starved and erupting In feeling. His performance was simply as goodas it gets.
He not only made memories but also spurred the group on to a fabulous
ensemble performance. Singer Dwight Lennox caught the favor for those tunes
as well."

Globe and Mail
Thursday November 11, 2004
Mark Miller
Tenor Soloist Makes Great Sax"Come the 21st of this month, the jazz world will celebrate the centenary of thelegendary tenor saxophonist Coleman Hawkins's birth. Lew Tabackin himself atenorist at least partly in the Hawkins tradition, got off to a head start on Tuesdayat the Top o' The Senator in Toronto.
If it wasn't for Coleman Hawkins," Tabackin mused midway through the evening's
opening set, "I don't know what we would sound like. We'd probably still be invaudeville." He went onto Wall of Hawkins's "firsts" in the history of thesaxophone in jazz.
A case could be also made for Sidney Bechet's significance in the transformationof the instrument from its beginnings as a novelty item, but bechet played
soprano and his centenary was seven years ago. So Hawkins is the man of theparticular hour/month/year, and Tabackin paid his respects with two tunes,
neither of which was Body and Soul, the balled chat Bean - ore Hawkins was
known - recorded to such enduring effect in 1939.
No, Tabackin chose instead to play Hanid (that's "Dinah" backwards) and Duke
Ellington's Self Portrait (of the Bean), each offered in dose approximation of
Hawkins's large-than-life style - his hearty tone, his shuddering vibrato, hissometimes gruff expressivity, his deceptively modem harmonic and melodic
ingenuity and his rhythmic vigor.
And never mind the tunes; the fact that a saxophonist of Tabackin's generationand contemporary leanings - he's 64, Philadelphia-born - could fad such clearinspiration in a musician whose career dates back to the mid-1920s speaks
volumes about Hawkins' lasting impact on jazz.
It also speaks well of Tabackin that, under normal circumstances (the extended
version of How Deep Is the Ocean that opened Tuesday first set, for example),he has personalized Hawkins's influence in combination with more recent
developments it jazz. His own sound is lighter and has attack striving In a
decidedly boppish manner his solos hurtle along, though without ever quite
getting ahead of themselves or spinning out of control.
He dances when he plays - dips, knees-ups, back arches, two steps to the rear
and a couple sideways, all is if to counterbalance the risk and reach so typical of
his improvisations. And he hikes to blow long, unaccompanied cadenzas, either
to set up or wind down whatever tune is at hand. That's another bow to Hawkins,,
whose 1948 recording of Picasso established an early and high standard forsuch sob ventures.
Tabackin's fondness for self sufficiency was certainly no reflection on the tidy
support that he was receiving, as required, from his three Toronto musicians at
the Senator, pianist Mark Eisenman bassist Steve Wallace and drummer Joe
Poole. Indeed, there was a fascinating subtext to the performance as Poole,making his "big league debut with a musician of Tabackin's international stature,
worked his way smartly from a rather nervous start to a very confident finish."

Der Bund11/17/04
Full Blast and Risky Tricks”Lew Tabackin belongs to a rare species, being a Jazz Archaeologist andAdventurer all at once! The first night of his Bern concerts, the 1940 born
American presented himself in extraordinary shape!
The ideas and the air would just NOT run out! His risky though precise tenor
tricks have, from a dramatic point of view, a lot in common with the swordfights inpirate flicks: It's about flashy spectacle and ways of getting out "exit-less"situations.
The hero tenorists of the pre-bop era, with their "raspy" timbres, as well as
Parker's ability or Sonny Rollins' sarcasm are important inspirational sources for
Tabackin who who becomes sort of a turbo saxophonist! His awareness ofhistory was proved by dedicating part of the set to the late great Coleman

Hawkins, who established the tenor sax, almost alone, as the jazz instrument par
excellence!
Body and Soul," the tune that catapulted Hawkins into the jazzolymp in 1939,
obviously couldn't be undermined. He plays ballads warm-heartedly as well as indoubletime. Especially beautiful was Tabackin's interpretation of Ellington's "Self
Portrait of the Bean." Another Duke "Sunset and the Mockingbird" was performed
extraordinarily on flute. Again, he demonstrated to be an expressive virtuoso on
this chosen instrument. Backed by a true elite trio, the Italian Dado Moroni, whooffered stride- jumps as well as McCoy Tyner voicings, Peter Washington (bass)and Lewis Hash (drums) who were swinging with sovereign authority!
Tabackin said: "I wanna leave a good impression behind!" This he achieved inoutstanding fashion!"

L.A. Times
Thursday July 24, 2003
Don Heckman
A Gallery of Tabackin's Artful Improv"Opportunities to experience the art of jazz improvisation are rare. What one
hears at most jazz performances is the craft of jazz improvisation - its technique,its virtuosity, its entertainment.
Although that offers plenty of attractions, there's something even more special inhearing jazz that moves into the heart of the mysterious process of improvisationas artistic expression.
Which leads to tenor saxophonist, Lew Tabackin's appearance this week at the
Jazz Bakery. Working with the empathetic support of bassist Boris Kozlov anddrummer Mark Taylor, he played an opening set Tuesday that was a stunning
example of a musician in full pursuit of his creative muse.
Tabackin began on tenor saxophone with an exploration of "Sweet and Lovely,"establishing an immediate high point for the evening with a series of organically
expanding, growingly complex variations. Starting with melodic paraphrases, hegradually moved into rapidly executed arpeggios interspersed with occasional
high-note shouts, reaching a peak of expressiveness in bursting streams of
double-time passages.

Tabackin offered a brief apology at the close of his set, noting that the trio had
just flown in from the East Coast. If he was implying that he intends to take hismusic to another level - and even if he doesn't - the balance of his week at the
Bakery will be one of the don't-miss jazz experiences of the year.
Other compelling material followed -- Lew Tabackin's touching ballad "Broken
Dreams," Duke Ellington's rarely heard "Serenade to Sweden" and a high-speed
romp through "Without a Song." On another original, inspired by Kobo Abe's
novel (and the subsequent film) "Woman in the Dunes," he switched to flute, his
solo's roving circularity darkly reflective of the story's sense of enigmatic
isolation."

Saxophone Journal
May/June 1998
Tim Price
Tenority
Concord Records"Without a doubt Lew Tabackin is one of the greatest tenor saxophone players
the world has ever heard! Tenority is one of Lew's most important recordings todate because it showcases him at his most creative level, on saxophone. It
exemplifies just how virtuostic Lew's playing has become. He flies through all
registers of the tenor with flawless precision and grooves hard constantly. His
history and career as a musician shows one of the most important aspects ofjazz as a craft. He speaks the language of jazz as a true jazzman. Lew has lived
and played with all the masters. You can hear in his creativity that his course of
study was on the bandstand. Jazz is a recognizable language, unfortunately,
there is little chance in today's world to experience or be a part of jazz in a live
setting. Schools will teach you the "grammar" of jazz and the "vocabulary" of jazz
but they will never be able to teach you how to use the language so that it isrecognizably jazz. You must listen, listen, and listen constantly. This is somethingthat is really missing in many players today. That is why I urge all of you to checkout Lew Tabackin now!
He is one of the finest examples of a true player. A man guided by his own
agenda, one of today's most luminary jazz artists. If you play the saxophone andnever heard of him, or got the chance to hear his music, it's about time you did.
His use of the body of sound is most inspiring. By that I mean, the sound he getson the tenor. It's one of the best in jazz. His time feel and the way he shapes his
phrases is extraordinary. His breath control and use of long lines, multiphonics,
and doing it on standard songs is astounding. The disc here is a beautiful
collection of Monk, Berlin, Gershwin, Al Jolson, Raye, and DePaul as well assome choice Tabackin jazz originals. The first five cuts feature pianist Don
Friedman. He really shines here and is the ultimate band player. I enjoy hissolos, his note choices are well informed, and he blends the random and theabstract together well. Friedman's flawless precision has always knocked me out!
On the cut 5 through 7, trumpet master Randy Brecker is added. This is one of
Tabackin's most important counterparts here. This document with Lew andRandy is of extreme importance to the world of jazz. The coherent playing of
Brecker and the definition of Lew's sound is inspiring. Brecker and Tabackinsimply challenge the conventions of official musical culture and structure. I've
always loved the exhaustive scope of Randy Brecker's solos with his very carefulattention to the many separate threads of his subject matter and hi distinctive
point of view. His trumpet playing is a revelation and a delight. Randy is one of
the most important musicians and composers of the last twenty-five years. Thereis simply very few that meet his level today. Peter Washington on bass and theever swinging Mark Taylor on drums lends a constant air of excitement to thedate.
This recording Tenority is simply an incredible construction of music by Lew
Tabackin. All aspects are superb. As you listen to this historical CD and let yourears and mind make friends with it, beyond analysis or words, you'll find yourself
traveling through exciting and vivid territories of jazz. This is music of great craft
and imagination by tenor master Lew Tabackin. As such, it's a date that promises
to give pleasure for years to come. Keep on Lew!"

The Times
Friday June 6, 1997
Live performance at Pizza Express, WIChampagne Flute"The Philadelphia-born Lew Tabackin is a frequent poll-winner, both for his
contribution to the big band he co-leads with his wife, Toshiko Akiyoshi, and for
his flute playing, Chris Parker writes. Live, though, he concentrates his
formidable improvising powers on the tenor saxophone. As if to emphasize thepoint, for this five-day engagement he is appearing as part of a trio - completed
by the British drummer Mark Taylor and Belgian bassist Phillippe Aerts - so he isable to luxuriate in the relative harmonic and rhythmic freedom resulting from theabsence of a piano.
It was clear Tabackin meant business as soon as he led the band into their firsttune, Come Rain or Come Shine; instead of treating Arlen's familiar melody as aneasy-paced warm-up lope, he subjected it to a vigorous examination,

investigating its possibilities with a thoroughness that recalled not only therhapsodic self-absorption of Coleman Hawkins, but also the fierce intensity lacedwith playfulness that characterizes the solos of Sonny Rollins, one of Tabackin's
strongest influences.
The latter was brought to mind even more readily by the approach Tabackin tookwith a follow-up number, Me and My Shadow. Like Rollins, he is an expert at
molding apparently unsuitable tunes into perfect improvisational vehicles. Thus,in his hands, the apparent drawbacks of Shadow - it's slightly plodding tempo,
the superficial banality of its melody - were transformed into advantages. Tadd
Dameron's bog anthem, Hot House, was skillfully woven into a lively trio workout,
and Duke Ellington's Serenade to Sweden proved hospitable to some smart
double-time tenor passages.
But no Tabackin live performance would be compete without his celebrated flute
playing, and he chose two typically varied showcases for it. John Coltrane's Wise
One involved some finely judged work from Aerts, and Juan Tizol's A Gypsy
Without a Song was both cogent and fluent, showing off Tabackin's pure, fullbodied sound to perfection.
Either would have been a highlight of a flautist's concert - the fact that they were
almost incidental to Tabackin's superb tenor display served only to underline justwhat a consummate musician he is."