Some of my favorite musical finds have come about in the most random ways. For example: I think saxophonist and bandleader Charles McPherson’s 2024 album Reverence might have been on a list of recommended jazz albums that I stumbled across online last month… but by the time it showed up in my mailbox, I’d completely lost the thread as to why it had caught my attention.
Chances are it had to do with the description of the style of jazz, which McPherson refers to in the liner notes as “modern bebop,” as in, ensemble nightclub jazz employing a somewhat traditional musical framework and instrumentation, but with an adventurous spirit. (Please note: if by any chance that comment leaves the mistaken impression that I know what I’m talking about here, don’t be misled; I am but a simple tourist in the land of jazz, trying to enrich my soul without knowing a tenth of what an actual expert on the genre could tell you.)
Born in Joplin, Missouri, McPherson spent his teenage years in Detroit, one of the upper Midwest’s great jazz cities. There he was mentored by pianist and composer Barry Harris and became close friends with trumpeter Lonnie Hillyer, with whom he would later join the band of the legendary Charles Mingus.
McPherson assembled Reverence as a tribute to Harris, who passed in 2021. Rather than recording in the sterile environment of a studio, though, McPherson chose the live setting of SMOKE Jazz Club in New York City, where his superb quintet featuring Terell Stafford on trumpet, Jeb Patton on piano, David Wong on bass, and Billy Drummond on drums could feed off of the energy and ambience of a live setting. The title 
Reverence reflects his attitude toward his mentor: “To me, it means deep respect and admiration,” he says, a feeling that the music conveys not with hushed tones or formality, but with heart, elegance, and a fluid virtuosity.
Six-minute opener “Surge” is well-named, delivering a flood of notes from first Stafford, then McPherson, and finally Patton over the pulsing foundation laid down by Wong and Drummond. The pattern it observes—an initial melodic statement, followed by sequential extended solos, bookended by a final reprise of the opening bars—is typical of bebop.
And indeed, the tasty “Blues For Lonnie In Three” is similarly structured, flowing from an initial melodic statement through extended solos before a brief reprise at the finish. It’s a delicious nine minutes that feels like it goes by in half that. “Come Rain or Come Shine,” covering a Johnny Mercer tune, opens with an elegant dialogue between McPherson and Stafford, a soothing number that oozes sophistication and class.
“Dynamic Duo” opens with a horn fanfare followed by a juking piano-and-rhythm section workout. In the second and third minutes, Wong gets the chance to strut his stuff, followed by Patton delivering a series of rippling runs. Stafford steps up next, before McPherson blows them all away with a tremendously fluid and dynamic solo, veering from headlong hyper-speed to laser-beam-precise notes.
The one other cover here, Willard Robison and Dedette Lee Hill’s “Old Folks,” has a low-key but ultra-cool vibe, focusing more on precision than velocity. Still, Stafford lights up the house with his solo in the fourth minute before McPherson takes his turn and the pair engage in a snappy little moment of dialogue.
You might expect McPherson’s closing “Ode To Barry” to take a slow, reverent approach—but if you did, you’d be wrong. Instead, it’s fast-paced, limber and snappy, moving quickly to McPherson and then Stafford for a pair of positively smoking solos, before Patton takes his welcome turn.
Instrumental jazz is about vibe more than structure or narrative, and Reverence delivers 45 minutes of positive vibes while embracing both traditional jazz forms and modern improvisational skills. This album is all its title implies and more, by turns celebratory, playful, melancholy and virtuosic, a finger-snapping collection of bebopping nightclub jazz that demonstrates once and for all that Charles McPherson did his mentor proud.