Existential, but stoked to be here: Jon Bentley Quartet

I heard two sets of saxophonist Jon Bentley in his quartet with Tristan Paxton on guitar, Chris Gestrin on a Viscount organ he just purchased, and Joe Poole on drums at La Fabrique St-George back on March 9, 2024. Right after the gig, the quartet went into the studio, so the live set made for a fun preview of what they'll have in store.

The band dialed up a strong unison melody and insistent beat right away, and the guitar and drums caught my attention. Paxton's firm tone is close to George Benson and Wes Montgomery, or closer to home Dave Sikula or a less woody Oliver Gannon. Poole has been on a remarkable run for a jazz musician in these times. Avid fans have heard him plays drums four or five times, maybe more, in as many days. He was cool as a cucumber through the shout chorus of "Balcony Jogger", which Bentley named after an entertaining neighbour who exercised on a balcony within his view from home. "I used to make a coffee and sit down and watch," he said.

"Amanita So Fly" named after the fly amanita mushroom, is a scene-evoking but not soul-baring title. It's somewhere between the titling styles of Cory Weeds and Brad Turner. The tune is an easy boogaloo and bossa hybrid. I think of Bentley as having a pure-toned tenor concept, but he sure knows exactly where to place the warble of vibrato at the ends of his notes when he wants it. Dexter Gordon is there, as is the high-pitched John Coltrane sound.

Bentley dedicated the hard-bopping boogaloo "Go Ahead" to "being forced underwater when you weren't expecting it", spelling out the theme of overcoming adversity with a story about going for a swim as a child. Instead of meditating on the hands that life deals to us, Paxton slammed the Wes-style octaves in the organ trio format for his solo.

Organ jazz is in season. We have the work of Jason de Couto including Organ.ic Chemistry and hits with guitarist Alvin Brendan. The weekly run at District Bar Restaurant that started with Weeds and de Couto as an offshoot of Frankie's has now kept charging with Arvind Ramdas' trio there this past week. And of course we have the Nightcrawlers. As the turbulent outro of "Go Ahead" calms and fades, this group sounds chiller, more listening and less dancing, than those other groups.

After excusing himself for playing a pop cover and saying he's "too old" to play any more gigs at the Commodore, Bentley introduced Paul Simon's "Still Crazy After All These Years" with an intro between him and Paxton. The arrangement was faithful and pointed me to listen back to the song, like I would any standard ballad that I realized I didn't really know after hearing it on a gig. Bentley chose to quote only four words from the song to talk about why the lyrics spoke to him: "It's all gonna fade," from the end of the bridge. I felt a bit of existentialism bubble up from the set as Bentley's soft-spoken intros clashed with the group's vigour and personal touches on the tunes; despite feeling existential, they’re stoked to be here.

The second set started with a minor blues driven by a bass riff, based on Wes Montgomery's "Movin' Wes". Paxton amped up his soloing with blues riffs, to the delight of the crowd, in this much more Nightcrawlers-worthy number. Titled "Movin' Further Wes", it'll fit like a glove on the quartet's upcoming Cellar album. Next was "The Feeling of Jazz" recorded by Stanley Turrentine and Shirley Scott, taken at a romantic tempo but still played with gusto, music to hold your sweetie to. The blues kept coming from Paxton to keep the energy flowing.

Before closing set two with "Trane's Terrain", named for Coltrane with an appropriately high melody and fast tempo, Bentley dedicated a tune to the late bassist Scott Tucker. Tucker played on Bentley's recordings going back to at least 2000, and the saxophonist had the house in stitches with a three-minute story from their early twenties that I won't document here. "He was a roommate of mine in four different houses," Bentley said to describe the decidedly local-musician type of bond he shared with Tucker.

Sharon Minemoto's recent album proved Bentley's longevity in the scene, being that the two had been friends for three decades here alongside bandmates Darren Radtke and Joe Poole. Chris Gestrin goes back to Bentley's earliest recorded output in the late 1990s, and in this organ quartet Paxton and Poole sound equally as comfortable. That comfort is what Bentley has brought to his quietly impressive batch of sideman recordings in the last two years, including ones from Peggy Lee, Laura Crema and Bill Coon, and the Hard Rubber Orchestra to name only ones I've picked up. Whenever he speaks – especially at a venue with no cover charge – I'm inclined to listen.