May 1999

Bruce Barth
Hope Springs Eternal
Double-Time Jazz

By Patricia Myers

New York-based pianist-composer Bruce Barth is an ultra-modernist when it comes to both form and substance. Constant harmonic and rhythmic surprises are evident on five of his original charts and two by his colleagues, as well as an imaginatively improvised version of Jimmy Van Heusen's "Darn That Dream." Steve Wilson's angular agility on soprano sax sparks the opening title track, his lilting flute propels the lyrical "Wondering Why" and he plays alto sax for the torrid Latin chart "Hour of No Return." Drummer Adam Cruz contributed "Full Cycle," another Latin-influenced composition that features bassist Ed Howard.