Chris Gale / Jeff Mcleod / Ted Quinlan / Chris Wallace

A polite Canadian throwback to the Soul-Jazz heyday, Uncharted’s six originals are never less than swinging. Channeling the mid-1960s sessions of among others, Jack McDuff, Stanley Turrentine and Kenny Burrell, these top Toronto jazzers do a credible job of recapturing the feel if not the funk of those days. That’s no surprise either since tenor saxophonist Chris Gale, organist Jeff Mcleod, guitarist Ted Quinlan and drummer Chris Wallace are top professionals who have collectively gigged with Dave Liebman and Bo Diddley among a host of others.

Every track is nothing less than an essay in control, as rhythmic thrust and lyricism is given equal prominence. With harmonized flow each piece begins with a notable head, is developed fruitfully with saxophone bites and honks plus guitar flanges, ably backed by relaxed drum smacks and tremolo organ comping and come to a logical conclusion. Extensions sometimes come in the form of sputtering Blues notes from Gale and twangs from Quinlan, often in double counterpoint. Meanwhile the wider stretches of “First of Many” allow the drummer to lean into a backbeat, the guitarist to attain Rock-like emphasis and the organ to undulate into a stop-time section to set up Gale’s Cool Jazz blowing.

Overall the quartet is more imposing on the longer tracks, even if default from soul is Bossa Nova intimations. “Richard’s Rhyme” combines foot-tapping with free-form as Mcleod’s tremolo stops double and triple while Gale appears on the verge of letting loose into irregular vibrations before pulling back to thematic coherence. The concluding “What the Hec” is also the loosest jam with Wallace projecting a Meters-like beat, Mcleod’s thin Brit-Pop blares interrupted by an “Ol’ Man River” quote and Quinlan’s strokes rising to greasy chicken scratching.

Sure to impress old time funksters and finger-snappers of all sorts the album achieves exactly what it set out to do. Still with the talent involved, the wish is that the CD and the band’s music could have been a little more Uncharted.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1. Building 8 2. 590 Blues 3. Here and Now 4. First of Many 5. Richard’s Rhyme

6. What the Hec

Personnel: Chris Gale (tenor saxophone); Jeff Mcleod (Hammond B-3); Ted Quinlan (guitar) and Chris Wallace (drums)