The Hudson Project

by Alex HendersonRecorded live at the Manhattan Center in New York in 1998, this CD documents a concert by the Hudson Project: a piano-less post-bop/fusion quartet uniting guitarist John Abercrombie with bassist John Patitucci, drummer Peter Erskine, and the Michael Brecker-influenced tenor saxman Bob Mintzer. You won't hear any overdone standards during the set; all four musicians contribute their own compositions, most of which are quite cerebral and angular. Clearly, the Hudson Project isn't a group that's willing to go out of its way to be accessible; complex pieces like Erskine's "Cats + Kittens," Patitucci's "Labor Day," Mintzer's "Modern Day Tuba," and Abercrombie's "Little Swing" must be accepted on their own terms. And those who can accept the Hudson Project on its own terms will find this CD to be a decent, if unspectacular, exercise in post-bop/fusion intellectualism.