JAZZ REVIEW : Phil Woods Leads Stellar Quintet

Alto saxophonist Phil Woods opened Tuesday at Catalina with arguably the most powerful frontline in his quintet’s 20-year history.

The significant new member is Brian Lynch, a masterful soloist who came to prominence as a trumpeter with the late Art Blakey and later worked in the Toshiko Akiyoshi band. Lynch is even more in command today than he was with Blakey, offering peerless, flawless, seamless improvisations and collaborating empathetically with Woods. Lynch also is a gifted composer.

As always Woods, performing with this group through Sunday, was impeccable, playing his own “Quill” (dedicated to the memory of his 1950s alto partner Gene Quill), a shuffle blues that ended amusingly with diminuendo and crescendo effects. Benny Carter’s “Souvenir” provided him a chance to display his ballad sensitivity, with even a slight hint of Johnny Hodges now and then.

After an engaging piano solo number by Jim McNeely on “Green Dolphin Street,” the set ended on a note of triumph with a wildly unconventional treatment of “Willow Weep for Me.”

Steve Gilmore on bass and Bill Goodwin on drums, both rounding out their second decade with Woods, are still providing the subtle pulse that has been essential to the group’s sound.