June 2007

Honolulu Jazz Quartet
Tenacity
HJQ

By Forrest Dylan Bryant

Hawaii may be off the beaten path, but this disc demonstrates that Honolulu’s jazz musicians can hang with those of any city. Bassist/leader John Kolivas anchors a set of upbeat bop, hip contemporary jazz and emotive ballads with a fat, sturdy tone and occasional slipperiness in his solos, also contributing the set’s best tunes. Tim Tsukiyama brings a streetwise toughness to both tenor and soprano sax, but some overassertive filtering in the recording studio screens his playing and dampens the disc’s immediacy.