Never underestimate the power of a sideman. Having talented, capable sidemen on board can mean the difference between a lackluster album and a creatively successful album -- and as a sideman, bassist
Joe Martin has done his part to make a lot of studio recordings and live gigs creatively successful. So it's only right that on his own album,
Not by Chance,
Martin is well served by a cohesive team that includes reedman
Chris Potter, acoustic pianist
Brad Mehldau, and drummer
Marcus Gilmore.
Potter and
Gilmore, of course, have long résumés as both leaders and sidemen -- and with
Martin in the driver's seat, they have no problem helping to bring someone else's material to life. Except for
Jaco Pastorius' "The Balloon Song," everything on this early-2009 post-bop recording is a
Martin original; clearly, playing an abundance of standards wasn't what he had in mind. Had the quartet opted to emphasize well-known post-bop standards -- let's say
Wayne Shorter's "Footprints,"
Miles Davis' "Milestones,"
Joe Henderson's "Recorda Me," and
John Coltrane's "Equinox" followed by
Herbie Hancock's "Dolphin Dance" and
Kenny Dorham's "Blue Bossa" -- that would have been easier for
Potter,
Mehldau, and
Gilmore than having to learn
Martin's compositions. Playing eight
Martin originals no doubt forced them to get into his head as a composer. But
Potter,
Mehldau, and
Gilmore obviously rose to the occasion -- and while the self-produced
Not by Chance isn't an exceptional post-bop outing, it is certainly a solid and satisfying one. Call it karma, if you want; with
Martin having served many of his employers well, he deserved to have gifted sidemen on board when he recorded a project of his own.
Not by Chance illustrates the value of teamwork; again, never underestimate the power of a sideman. ~ Alex Henderson