Review: Jimmy Greene’s ‘As We Are Now’

Saxophonist and composer Jimmy Greene is recognized by many as a vital member of Ron Carter’s Foursight Quartet, which will be appearing at the 2025 Newport Jazz Festival. Greene has also established a solid career as a leader, having received a Grammy nomination and acknowledgment in the DownBeat Magazine Critics Poll. He also endured a life-altering tragedy when his then six-years-old daughter, Ana Grace Márquez-Greene, was among those killed twelve years ago at Sandy Hook School in Newtown, Connecticut. Since that horrific day, Greene has devoted much of his music to the memory of his daughter. Coming five years after While Looking Up (Mack Avenue, 2020), As We Are Now (Greene Music Works, 2025) is the artist’s fourth album since her passing and the first on his own label.  As we get older, we each typically receive physical wellness checks. In that light, we can consider this record, his tenth as a leader, as a wellness check on Greene’s mental well-being. The cliché that time heals wounds, in most cases, is rarely true. Music becomes a means of channeling a myriad of emotions, as the deeply faithful Greene attests to with this statement.

The core of this project is a suite of songs commissioned by Chamber Music America after Greene was named a winner of its Doris Duke Charitable Foundation-funded New Jazz Works grant program in 2023. Interestingly, the suite is not labeled as such, but one can infer that it makes up the first six of the eight tracks. Unlike previous releases that include strings and large ensembles, here, Greene works with a core quintet of longtime collaborators: pianist Aaron Goldberg, guitarist Mike Moreno, bassist Dezron Douglas, and drummer  Jonathan Barber. Several notable guests join as well. Vocalist, recording artist, and winner of the inaugural season of NBC’s ‘The Voice’, Javier Colon, appears on one track. Organist Shedrick Mitchell appears on two. Percussionist Gabriel Globus-Hoenich’s congas strengthen the closing track, and percussionist Rogerio Boccato sprinkles in his flourishes on several of the Greene composed pieces that make up the album.

Mitchell’s organ imbues the Black Church inspired opener, “Praises,” with Greene delivering the vocal-like melody on his tenor before passing the baton to Goldberg for a roof-raising piano solo while Moreno’s contributions notably course through the piece. Greene switches to soprano for “Seventeen Days,” a track that features Colon’s rich vocals as he sings lyrics penned by Greene, referencing the saxophonist’s early days as a touring musician trying to balance the joy of performing with the responsibilities of family life. Barber’s drum solos, interspersed in a few places, add potency. Greene stays with the soprano for the wildly fluid “Impatient,” drawn from the ‘Charleston’ rhythm, from the composition of the same name written over a century ago by a pioneer of Harlem stride piano, James P. Johnson. The piece features vigorous dialogue between Greene and Moreno while Douglas and Barber stoke the fire below. 

Inevitably, we get to pieces where Greene has his daughter in mind. “Unburdened” is uplifting, with a melody designed to evoke Ana’s free-flowing, carefree spirit. Greene is especially adept at lyrically emotive tenor lines like those heard here. Other notable aspects are the unison lines between Greene and Moreno as well as Moreno’s smooth solo. The last piece in the suite – in this author’s best estimation – is “Anhelando,” a title derived from the Spanish word for “longing.”. It’s played in a slow Brazilian partido alto groove, almost the opposite of “Unburdened,” in that there’s a mournful, commemorative aspect that yearns for Ana’s presence. It’s more akin to the kind of pieces Greene recorded in the first four or five years following her passing. Nonetheless, the percussive groove helmed by Barber and Boccato adds vitality to the otherwise contemplative melody. 

Sandwiched in between is the jolting title track. It’s not the backbeat-groove, enhanced by Mitchell, that attracts notice as much as the voices. Greene’s speaking voice is heard in the song’s intro, inviting the listener to consider his answer to the frequently posed question, “How are you doing now?” Later, snippets of recent speeches and interviews with his wife, Nelba Márquez-Greene, and their son, Isaiah, are sprinkled in. Note also the soulful call-and-response exchange between the band and Dezron Douglas’ thick, earthy bass.

“Flood Stage,” named in the aftermath of the “once-in-a-thousand-year” storm that ravaged Greene’s home and southwestern Connecticut community in August of 2024, is based on Wayne Sorter’s chord progression of “Pinocchio.” It’s one of the few tunes rendered just by the core quintet and features blistering runs from Goldberg, Moreno, and the leader on tenor. Greene returns to Latin strains, in this case Afro-Cuban, with Globus-Hoenich’s congas in a rework of Kurt Weill’s “Speak Low.” Similar to “Anhelando,” there’s a longing in Greene’s melody offset by the danceable rhythms that convey joy. That latter owes to Greene’s profound faith. The album indicates he is still reflecting on his daughter – How can he not? – yet, the sound here is much different than his previous three releases since 2012, indicating that his spirit is indeed healthy.

‘As We Are Now’ will be released on July 25, 2025. Greene will be performing with the Ron Carter Foursight Quartet at the Newport Jazz Festival on Friday, August 1, 2025.

Photo credit: Brenden Castro