Ravi Coltrane leaves his band in the dust at Jazz Showcase

Saxophonist Ravi Coltrane outplayed the rest of his quartet in the Jazz Showcase on Thursday September 27^th, 2012. The band leader’s rhythm section, made up of bassist Drew Gress, drummer E.J. Strickland and pianist Luis Perdomo, was not up to par, and quite often they dragged behind Coltrane. Fortunately, their performance at the Jazz Showcase is not a reflection of their typical work as the group just recently released a very well played record. This article was written by Howard Reich, an arts critic for The Chicago Tribune. The Chicago Tribune, a credible resource, is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois and has been in print since June 10^th, 1847. The main reason this reviewer was disappointed with Coltrane’s group’s performance because his latest record, “Spirit Fiction,” was rather impressive. This article was written for jazz enthusiasts as well as for the benefit of Ravi Coltrane’s band themselves as a second opinion of Thursday night’s performance. The author uses many similes as well as personification to describe the poor musicianship of Ravi Coltrane’s rhythm section members including their tone, phrasing, and rhythm. The author wrote this article to express his well-developed opinion as to how Ravi Coltane’s band performed at the Jazz Showcase. I believe that he accomplished his purpose through the text, because he is an experienced reviewer. The reader can tell this because of his logical reasoning as to why the quartet’s performance was not up to their usual standard.