Earshot Jazz And The French Horn

You don't often hear French horn in jazz. But Tom Varner (whose New Seattle Quintet performed Wednesday night at Tula's as part of the Earshot Jazz Festival, which continues through Sunday) strips the instrument of its traditional classical dress and makes something new of it. In a blindfold test, you might mistake Varner's horn for a trombone: a ringing tenor tone with fuzzy edges, warm enough to contrast with the cold metal in Mark Taylor's alto—that's Mark Taylor the saxophone player, not Mark Taylor the French horn player.

The sets consisted mostly of Varner originals, emphasizing music from his new CD "Swimming." The players, especially drummer Reade Whitwell, kept busy, echoing or complementing each other's lines, sounding at times larger than a quintet. (Whitwell had his work cut out for him. The drummer on "Swimming" is Tom Rainey, who was in town last night with Drew Gress and 7 Black Butterflies. Rainey has astounding technique, and judging from the Gress gig he loves to fill every empty space with music.) The blend of horn and saxes was especially compelling on "Maybe Yes," with the close harmonies of an opening trio cadenza breaking into something much wilder when the cadenza recurred later. As soloists, all five players (Varner, Taylor, Whitwell, Eric Barber on tenor, and Phil Sparks on bass) displayed the blistering technique and nearly-free sensibility that most Earshot gigs deliver.

Tom Varner relocated to Seattle last year, so even if you missed him this time you can catch him again. We plan to.