Wayne Escoffery

Saxophonist Wayne Escoffery is renowned for his fiery, muscular and virtuosic tenor playing, but his explosive sound is paired with a soft-spoken and thoughtful demeanor off the bandstand. In many cases both of those aspects of his personality can be credited to the same inspirations, giants of the music who paired estimable talents and imagination with rock-solid integrity.

London, England-born saxophonist Wayne Escoffery's fifth album is a soulful, groove-heavy outing that positions him firmly within the tradition of hard bop blowing but also makes a case for him as a better-than-decent composer. There's a Wayne Shorter-esque feel to melodies like the opening "No Desert" and the questing "Maya's Waltz," while the minute-long organ interlude, "Road from Eilat" and the track it leads into, "Gulf of Aqaba," add a psychedelic, spiritual edge reminiscent of Larry Young's mid-'60s Blue Note albums.

Saxophonist Wayne Escoffery is renowned for his fiery, muscular and virtuosic tenor playing, but his explosive sound is paired with a soft-spoken and thoughtful demeanor off the bandstand. In many cases both of those aspects of his personality can be credited to the same inspirations, giants of the music who paired estimable talents and imagination with rock-solid integrity. On his latest album, The Humble Warrior, Escoffery pays homage to those figures with his most ambitious and wide-ranging set to date. While Escoffery himself strives to represents the tenets of a Humble Warrior, it would be easy for him to act otherwise given his stand-out career and ample accolades. A Grammy Award and DownBeat Critics Poll winner, he has performed with a who’s who of jazz including Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, Abdullah Ibrahim, Al Foster, Billy Hart, Eddie Henderson, Wallace Roney and others.