While the Gate Is Open

1990 studio album by Gary Thomas

Studio album by

Gary Thomas

Released

1990

Recorded

May 1990

Studio

Hit Factory, New York City

Genre

Jazz

Length

59:06

Label

JMT
JMT 834 439

Producer

Stefan Winter

Gary Thomas chronology

By Any Means Necessary
(1989)

While the Gate Is Open
(1990)

The Kold Kage
(1991)

While the Gate Is Open is the fourth album by saxophonist Gary Thomas which was recorded in 1990 and released on the JMT label.^[1]^[2] It features Thomas' interpretations of eight jazz standards.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[3]
The Guardian	^[4]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings	^[5]

The AllMusic review by Scott Yanow states, "Thomas gives the eight tunes fresh treatments and as usual avoids all clichés (and the logic of bop) in his explorative improvisations."^[3] The Guardian's John Fordham noted "This one features the hard-nosed Miles Davis saxophonist Gary Thomas with a fiercely collaborative band of experts... There's a lot of full-on tenor sax blasting over ferocious percussion barrages... The saxophonist's tendency to spit out phrases rather than massage them into life gives his work a rather impassive quality that mellowed later".^[4]

Track listing

"Strode Rode" (Sonny Rollins) - 8:06
"Star Eyes" (Gene de Paul, Don Raye) - 7:27
"You Stepped Out of a Dream" (Nacio Herb Brown, Gus Kahn) - 7:58
"The Song Is You" (Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern) - 7:31
"Invitation" (Bronisław Kaper, Paul Francis Webster) - 10:00
"Chelsea Bridge" (Billy Strayhorn) - 5:38
"On the Trail" (Ferde Grofé) - 6:47
"Epistrophy" (Thelonious Monk, Kenny Clarke) - 5:39

Personnel

Gary Thomas - tenor saxophone, flute
Kevin Eubanks - electric guitar (tracks 1, 5, 6 & 8)
Renee Rosnes - synthesizer, piano (tracks 2, 3 & 8)
Anthony Cox (tracks 4, 5, 7 & 8), Dave Holland (tracks 1-3 & 6) - bass
Dennis Chambers - drums (tracks 1–5, 7 & 8)

References

^ Peabody Institute Staff Profile: Gary Thomas, accessed November 17, 2014
^ Shimada, T., JMT label discography, accessed November 14, 2014
^ ^a ^b Yanow, S., Allmusic Review accessed November 17, 2014
^ ^a ^b Fordham, J. The Guardian Review, October 31, 2003
^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 1396. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.