Review

Songs about trains have always been a part of the jazz lexicon. Billy Strayhorn s Take The A Train was an early tribute to New York s 8th Avenue subway line, but its seems a while since the city s much maligned mass transit system has been honored in music. On Subway Songs the Metta Quintet presents a program of nine original tracks inspired by the many facets of the New York City Subway experience. The group, the resident ensemble of JazzReach, a not-for-profit performing arts and education association, is comprised of Marcus Strickland and Mark Gross (saxes), Helen Sung (piano), Joshua Ginsburg (bass) and H. Benjamin Schuman (drums), the organization s founder and artistic director. The tunes, tastefully tied together by sound effects train noises, conductor announcements, a panhandler are, like subway travel itself, varied in tempo and mood.`
The set begins and ends with the collaborative Gross-Schuman compositions, Morning Rush (stand clear of the closing doors) and Evening Rush, variations on the same theme that portray a somewhat tense energy-charged commute to work and the more leisurely trip home. In between, songs like Sung s straight-ahead swinging Fast Forward and Strickland s enigmatic Ephemeral Muse (spotlighting the composer s bass clarinet) maintain the roller coaster range of emotions. Selections penned by three of the group s contemporaries associated with JazzReach contribute to further the compositional variety of the date. Myron Walden s shadowy Underground and Jimmy Greene s thoughtful Underground Messenger make use of subtle saxophone harmonies that showcase the quintet s two horn front line, as does the disc s centerpiece, Jon Cowherd s episodic Subway Suite. While the overall mood of the music making up Subway Songs may not be as visceral as one might expect from its title subject, its beauty is a moving tribute to a system that serves people from all walks of life.
-Russ Musto --All About Jazz NYC - June 2007