It takes daring for a producer to lead off a recording with a ballad. When that producer is Marc Free of Posi-Tone Records, a label known for scorching hard bop, the album particularly demands attention. With Green Thumb (Posi-Tone Records, 2023), pianist David Ake generously provides a varied program of surprising, even eccentric, choices that resolve with the satisfying inevitability of a fable.

Imagination is Ake’s motivating principle here. He follows the opening ballad – the languid Wayne Shorter-influenced “Good Afternoon” – with the title cut, a “Blue Monk-“ish blues that seems to barely unfold from a dimension where time is suspended. Then it’s on to “John Prine,” a loping cowboy bolero á la “Blue Bayou,” and “Stu’s News,” a bouncing line that evokes Ornette Coleman at his most playful. Add “Slingshot,” a fleet but light-footed swinger reminiscent of Keith Jarrett’s American Quartet. And the crashing arena rock of “Street Food.” Throughout, Ake gives the picture of a musician of restless curiosity and unbounded interests.

Yet, Green Thumb hangs together with the adhesive commitment of the band to Ake’s singular vision. Rudy Royston is a drummer whose musical curiosity rivals Ake’s.. With bassist Boris Kozlov, Royston forms a Posi-Tone house rhythm section that responds to every situation with confidence and originality. At the piano, the leader is measured and self-contained, never didactic or lunging for cheap effect.

Music this eclectic calls for a horn player with resourcefulness and eloquence, and here Tony Malaby and his astonishing range almost steals the show. He roars like an R&B bar walker on “Street Food” and sings the soft, sad melody of “Walker Evans” with affecting dignity. Malaby is not a player one associates with songbook repertoire, but the recording’s two covers are standouts. “All The Things You Are” plays hide-the-melody reminiscent of Lee Konitz, while “But Beautiful” closes the album with the aching, teardrop lyricism of a Ben Webster ballad.

This stimulating and thought-provoking quartet makes music with understated audacity and supreme confidence. Yet the responsibilities of Ake’s academic career at the University of Miami may keep him from the wider recognition he deserves. That’s a shame, but the rich banquet of rewarding music on Green Thumb should give listeners a lot to enjoy in the interim. 

Green Thumb is now available on Posi-Tone Records. It can be purchased on Bandcamp.

Tracklist: 1. Good Afternoon; 2. Green Thumb; 3. John Prine; 4. Stu’s News; 5. Walker Evans; 6. Slingshot; 7. Kendee; 8. All The Things You Are; 9. Street Food;10. But Beautiful. 

Personnel: David Ake (piano), Tony Malaby (tenor saxophone), Boris Kozlov (bass), Rudy Royston (drums).