New Beginning

In 2001, Harvie Swartz started going by Harvie S, which was sort of like Sheila Escovedo going by Sheila E. or Jennifer Lopez calling herself J-Lo. The acoustic bassist did it because he was sick of people misspelling his last name; Swartz figured that if people couldn't remember the correct spelling of his last name, he would simply go by Harvie S. Recorded in 2001, New Beginning was the first Swartz album that came out after the name change. This excellent CD finds the improviser leading his band, Eye Contact, a hornless sextet that employs Bruce Arnold on guitar, Daniel Kelly on acoustic piano, Gregor Hubnor on violin, Adam Weber on drums, and Renato Thoms on percussion. The material is essentially post-bop with a strong Afro-Cuban influence and occasional hints of European chamber music — generally more straight-ahead than fusion and more acoustic than electric, although Arnold's electric guitar solos do bring some tracks into the fusion realm. The classical influences are definitely subtle — nothing as overtly classical-minded as the Modern Jazz Quartet or Gunther Schuller — but they are there nonetheless. Although New Beginning isn't innovative, the songs (most of them Swartz originals) are still fairly fresh-sounding. New Beginning is not an album of bop clichés, and Swartz's musicians don't spend all of their time trying to show you how fast they can play "Giant Steps" and "Oleo." Most of the time, the soloists are lyrical and relatively accessible; this is true of Eye Contact's members as well as guests, who include trumpeter Ray Vega and the influential tenor saxman Michael Brecker. Whether you call him Harvie S or still think of him as Harvie Swartz, New Beginning is an album that the bassist should be proud of.