Arman Sangalang: Waypoints
Calligram Records

Chicago-based tenor saxophonist Arman Sangalang concludes the physical edition of his sophomore album Waypoints with that most tried-and-true of classics, “Body & Soul,” and summons the ghosts of countless jazz icons in the process, his purr so silky one pictures Coleman Hawkins and Ben Webster nodding somewhere with approval. Yet while Sangalang knows the tradition, he's no staunch traditionalist when he partners with guitarist Dave Miller, bassist Ethan Philion, and drummer Devin Drobka on the date. These in-demand collaborators do much to infuse the performances with the type of vitality that can make even the most exhaustively covered classic feel new.

Though he wrote the material for Waypoints, which follows his debut Quartet by three years, over a two-year period that involved moving back and forth between Chicago and Monterey, Sangalang's very much embedded himself into Chicago's fertile scene. In addition to the members of his quartet, he's played with Clark Sommers, Matt Ulery, and others who're strongly associated with the city. As a young player, the saxophonist has clearly absorbed much by being in the presence of such august company. By his own admission, the material was written with his three partners in mind, with ample room for personal creativity factored in. Miller's distinctive, effects pedals-enhanced voice imposes itself terrifically on the performances, while Philion and Drobka, who've played together in other saxophone-led groups, invest the pieces with fluidity and invention.

Co-composed by Sangalang and bassist Oliver Wattles, “Nina” begins with the leader spreading warm musings across a rubato bed of drums and cymbals and ethereal billows of guitar. Testifying to the comfort level shared by the four, the music emerges with patient circumspection, Miller at one point evoking the distant cry of birds as the quartet settles into the song's serenading groove and wistful statements. The leader's acrobatic side's called on for “Easy Does It,” the urgency of his solo equalled by the eruptive thrust generated by the others. Here and elsewhere, the versatile Miller shows himself as adept at delivering a fleet-fingered solo as coaxing microtonal splinters from his guitar. While notes bend and liquify during the high-wire “Who's It Going to Be?” in a manner suggesting kinship with Mary Halvorson, Miller's no copycat but a true original, and Sangalang's lucky to have him by his side.

“Monkish” naturally apes the legend's compositional style, but no one'll complain when the tune swings so breezily, Sangalang seemingly channeling Charlie Rouse in his, yes, rousing solo and the others grandly digging into the tune's bop. Rather different in character is “Writer Agents,” a shadowy, rock-tinged expression whose tight structure isn't so mapped-out it prevents adventurous solos by Philion and Miller from appearing. Different too is the soulful, R&B-inflected “Less Is …,” which elicits from the quartet a hard-grooving treatment.

September 2026