By Michael J. West | Published November 2024
It’s hard to say what makes Planet Bluu so special. Perhaps it’s because, rather than the mix of newbies and veterans he usually uses, here saxophonist/flutist T.K. Blue surrounds himself with hungry young musicians. (At age 33, drummer Orion Turre is, after Blue, the old man of the core band.) If so, though, Blue holds their eagerness in check. These first and foremost are supportive players who seem content to draw on the leader’s wisdom and experience rather than inject him with fire and adrenaline.
That doesn’t just go for the youngsters (who also include trumpeter Wallace Roney Jr., pianist Davis Whitfield and bassist Dishan Harper). Steve Turre, by almost any measure a fearsome presence on trombone, guests on four tracks but solos only once, a typically brilliant submission on “Chessman’s Delight.” Otherwise he’s content to remain a background (“Valley Of The Bluu Rose,” on trombone) or contrapuntal voice (“Chrystal Lake Bluu,” on shells). Likewise, pianist David Kikoski’s sole appearance is in a duet with soprano-wielding Blue on the ballad “When It’s Time To Say Goodbye”: No pyrotechnics here.
These guests and this approach makes the whole album seem like a professorial lesson on the virtues of restraint and economization for developing musicians. If so, it’s an effective and enjoyable one. The diptych “Sky Bluu Parts 1 & 2” makes the point beautifully, the first part featuring delicate lines for Blue on kalimba and alto that require patience and great space for Whitfield, Harper (on bow) and Turre; the second takes on a polyrhythmic South African character, no doubt honed from Blue’s time spent collaborating with Abdullah Ibrahim — of whom Whitfield does a pretty good impression in the head out — but carefully allows no single player to become bigger than the whole brew (although Roney’s gorgeous trumpet solo comes close). Attenuation is a less appreciated nuance, but Blue has mastered it.
