Present Tense was born out of two very specific desires. First, saxophonist
James Carter wanted a precise recorded portrait of where he was at as a musician, aesthetically and technically. Second was producer
Michael Cuscuna's dead-on assertion that
Carter, for all his instrumental and aesthetic virtuosity, had never been represented well on tape.
Carter's inability to resist overdoing it on virtually everything he records (ten-minute solos in standards, etc.) makes that point inarguable.
Cuscuna proves to be the perfect producer -- as both ally and foil -- and reins
Carter in to benefit the recording as a whole. The band on
Present Tense is solid: the young trumpeter and fellow Detroiter
Dwight Adams, pianist
D.D. Jackson, bassist
James Genus, and drummer
Victor Lewis round out the quintet, with percussionist
Eli Fountain and guitarist
Rodney Jones playing on three cuts each. The program is wide-ranging and eclectic, but it locks. It offers a portrait of
Carter as an exciting traditionalist who can stretch arrangements and previous interpretations to the breaking point, without simply making them egotistical statements about him as a soloist.