Rick Margitza's debut features the playing of a young tenor-saxophonist who mixes together the usual influences:
Michael Brecker,
Wayne Shorter and
John Coltrane. In his favor is that
Margitza's 11 originals (performed with a septet that includes guitarist
Steve Masakowski, pianist
Joey Calderazzo and
Jim Beard on synthesizers) range from a
Coltranish blues to the poppish "Color Scheme," from brooding ballads to uptempo straightahead explorations. The main weak point is that some of
Margitza's solos sound as if he they were taken straight from exercise books. Less formal studying and more jamming will probably eventually eliminate that problem for
Margitza certainly had the technique and the power at this early point in his career. ~ Scott Yanow