Kendrick Scott - Corridors (Blue Note)

Drummer/composer Kendrick Scott has made quite a name for himself with his wide-ranging, genre-fluid group Oracle. For Corridors, however, he strips things down to the minimum, employing saxophonist Walter Smith III and bassist Reuben Rogers in a chord-less trio. Though the instrumentation is sparser, the tracks aren’t any less rich – Scott knows how to write a tune with melodic appeal, letting listeners imagine the harmonic backdrop in their own heads. As one of the current scene’s most imaginative and dextrous sax players, Smith pushes the tunes across their axis with just the right balance of taste and boisterousness. Rogers, meanwhile, reminds us why he’s one of the greatest groovers in modern jazz, locking in with Scott and keeping the rhythms popping. Together, the threesome has their way with the shimmering post bop of “One Door Closes, Another Opens” and “Threshold,” the brooding balladry of “A Voice Through the Door,” the freewheeling chaos of “What Day is It?” and the blues noir of the title track. The band also takes on Bobby Hutcherson’s “Isn’t This My Sound All Around Me,” bringing swinging sixties bop into the twenty-first century without sounding retro. Originally commissioned for the Jazz Gallery’s 2020 Artist Fellowship Series, Corridors sounds less like a suite and more like three pals jamming, having as good a time as anyone within hearing range of it.