AMG Review of Talkin' Stick

David Dupont
All Music Guide

Talkin' Stick puts the versatile Oliver Lake into what could pass for a conventional hard bop quintet. However, with Lake's full-throated alto as the primary voice, there's little that's business-as-usual about this date. The session explores some in-the-pocket grooves mostly by the leader, with a couple felicitous contributions by Julius Hemphill ("Hard Blues") and Curtis Clark ("Only if You Live There"). Clark's piece is a real ear-catcher, with a playful, toy piano-like quality that Lake abstracts and broadens in a typically ferocious solo. Lake's own compositions include the opening waltz and the African-flavored "Masaai Moves," which gets a more extended reading than on Lake's string project recording, "Movement, Turns & Switches." Underneath, drummer Cecil Brooks III and Belden Bullock, Lake's regular bassist, maintain the groove. Geri Allen and vibraharpist Jay Hoggard provide trenchant, complementary solos. The session goes to prove that regardless of the setting, Lake's sound remains among the most distinctive in jazz.