Sometimes the simplest artistic statements can be the most compelling. This is what alto saxophonist
Jim Snidero achieves on 2024's
For All We Know. His first album not to feature a chordal instrument, it finds him pairing down his quartet from 2021's
Live at Deer Inn and quintet from 2023's
Far Far Away to a trio with longtime associates bassist
Peter Washington and drummer
Joe Farnsworth. Essentially a standards album,
For All We Know is nonetheless an artfully rendered production with a stripped-down aesthetic that spotlights
Snidero's warm, vocal-like tone and painterly lines. One of the young bebop lions of the '80s,
Snidero has gotten even more assured with age, with his playing having evolved into a vibrant amalgam of
Lee Konitz,
Sonny Rollins, and
John Coltrane. There's a palpable sense of group interplay, especially between
Snidero and
Washington, whose partnership goes as far back as
Snidero's 1987 debut album,
Mixed Bag. Together, they conjure an atmosphere of warm camaraderie, but it's one that's charged with a creative electricity as each player works to fill in the space left open by the lack of a chordal instrument. Without a piano or guitar in the way,
Snidero has plenty of room to move, spiraling over
Washington and
Farnsworth's woody grooves as he accents each melody with ever more colorful harmonic flourishes. It's a cerebral, deconstructive vibe, yet one underscored with a lyrical romanticism, as on their opening rendition of the classic 1934 title track. Opening with a ballad is always a bold move, and the spare, midtempo romanticism of
Snidero's playing speaks to the intense focus at play throughout the album. Yet more ear-popping moments follow, including a poignantly rendered take on
Alec Wilder and
Loonis McGlohon's folky song "Blackberry Winter" and a smiling, soulfully grooving reading of the standard "Willow Weep for Me." Equally bold is his reworking of
John Coltrane's "Naima," yet another ballad placed early on the album. It starts with a hushed bass solo from
Washington in which his bluesy lines refract against the shimmer of
Farnsworth's delicate cymbal work before
Snidero enters, playing the melody with a glowing, moon-like resonance. All of the songs on
For All We Know are ones most jazz fans will have a deep familiarity with, yet
Snidero,
Washington, and
Farnsworth make them sound profoundly new, as if each one were their own. ~ Matt Collar