Govoni: Breakin' Out

One thing that frustrates eclectic musicians to no end is being pigeonholed; they resent people who try to squeeze them into one category and keep them there. Some elitist jazz snobs might actually like being pigeonholed because they wouldn't want anyone to associate them with music they consider inferior, but those who are interested in more than one style of music tend to resent pigeonholing. Dino Govoni isn't a jazz snob; the tenor saxophonist has backed non-jazz vocalists like Terence Trent D'Arby and Dr. John. But on Breakin' Out, Govoni's first album as leader, he sticks to straight-ahead jazz of the instrumental variety and draws on such influences as Michael Brecker, John Coltrane, and Wayne Shorter. This acoustic-oriented post-bop/hard bop session contains conventional versions of two overdone, beaten-to-death standards: "All the Things You Are" and "Stella by Starlight." But thankfully, only about 20 percent of this CD is devoted to warhorses that jazz fans have heard countless times over the years. The other 80 percent includes mostly original material by either Govoni or fellow tenor man George Garzone, who is featured on "All the Things You Are" as well as his own "(To The) Head Now!" and "Tutti Italiani" (a moody Garzone original with a strong Miles Davis influence). Govoni, meanwhile, demonstrates that he is a talented composer on originals that range from the dusky "Shall We Dance?" to the angular, Thelonious Monk-influenced title track. Govoni also turns his attention to trumpeter Tom Harrell's "Angela"; even listeners who didn't read the credits and hadn't heard trumpeter Harrell's version of the song might suspect that he wrote it because Harrell has a recognizable writing style. Breakin' Out falls short of miraculous, but it's still a worthwhile, if derivative, effort that isn't hard to enjoy.