October 2000

Walt Weiskopf
Anytown
Criss Cross Jazz

By Chuck Berg

Tenorist Weiskopf plays with an urgency born of a dedication to post-Coltrane tenoring that, while incorporating the past, is centered in the here-and-now. There's electricity in Weiskopf's sound. Dark and edgy, it's a sonic bulldozer, relentlessly probing and pushing. Throughout this program of bracing originals, the New York tenorist gets hand-in-glove support from vibraphonist Joe Locke, pianist Renee Rosnes, bassist Doug Weiss and drummer Tony Reedus. It's a genuine group effort unreeling along deep and pulsating grooves.