REVIEW: Bob Szajner Triad’s “Down Beatrice Street”

Originally recorded in 1978 towards an album that was released on the short lived Seeds & Stems label, Down Beatrice Street features music performed by the Bob Szajner Triad, which included Roy Brooks (drums), Ray McKinney (bass), and Szajner (piano) performing a marathon 6-hour set of songs, and whatever brought them to certain songs and moments, that was that. Nine songs from these sessions resulted in the long-out-of-print album Jazz Opus 20/40, and seven of the nine tracks on that LP are here. “Back Little Thyroid Gland” and “No Bridge In Sight” are sadly missing, but in its place are eight songs from the session on October 8, 1978, and whether it was the power of music, a bit of liquor, an extra heaping of vegetables or what may have been in the air, it resulted in some powerful music and one is able to at bigger sense of what happened that day. What amazes me that McKinney and Brooks had no idea what songs Szajner was going to play at any given time. They were just told to follow and see what happens. No overdubs, no post-production, just the three musicians as is, and they did this for six hours. Also, the idea that on his 18th wedding anniversary, Szajne thought “I’m going to play music instead, I’ll come back later.” Well, he didn’t actually say that but sometimes a musician has to do what a musician has to do, and the world is thankful that despite whatever circumstances may have happened after these sessions, he did it.