Jazz Condition -- UPI Arts & Entertainment

After two decades honing his musical craft and skills as a respected sideman, pianist Bruce Barth is stepping out as a leader with greater frequency. His buoyant sound is enhanced with the chemistry with more than a little help from his friends.

His latest recording, "East and West" on the MAXJAZZ label, is a wonderful showcase for his many talents -- and those of his friends. Many of the collaborators, including saxophonists Steve Wilson, Adam Kolker and Sam Newsome, have worked with him for years.

"These are players who are close friends, like family, and with whom I have been playing for a long time. There is no way you can substitute for that personal chemistry and long-term relationship," Barth said.

The material ranges from one solo piano piece, Thelonious Monk's "Ask Me Now," to three trio selections with bassist Ugonna Okegwo and drummer Al Foster, to a variety of quintet excursions and three tunes for an septet featuring a four-horn front line with the saxophonists and trumpeter Terrell Stafford.

From start to finish, there is a marvelous richness to the music, with an uncommon depth to the horn lines and a sophisticated, yet buoyant lilt.

"I was hearing a certain kind of sound ... and wanted to experiment with the sound. There is a fatness and warmth to it -- warm, rich and open," says Barth, who past work has included stints with George Russell, Stanley Turrentine and Terence Blanchard.

"East and West" is Barth's seven recording as a leader. Much of the music was written from the inspiration of having spent his first eight years growing up in Pasadena, Calif., before his family moved to the New York area. He said several pieces, including "At the Ranch," "Sundown Time," "Riding Off" and "The Dude," were inspired by childhood "Old West" memories.

"I wasn't trying to depict actual things, but to conjure up an image or a tone color of what I was remembering," Barth said. " The bass line in "The Dude" sounds like a horse riding through the West, but other things were far more abstract.

"Many came about as improvisations that I developed. I decided they would lend themselves nicely to a multi-horn treatment. I had never recorded with more than two horns. Those third and fourth voices add something very special. Since some of the guys double on various instruments (saxes, clarinet and bass clarinet), it felt like there were unlimited possibilities of color."

Barth, 43, a veteran of the Boston and New York jazz scenes, is quick to credit his influences and has done more than his share of woodshedding to hone is craft as a player and writer.

"Once I learn something, say a harmonic idea from Cannonball Adderley, to just really go towards things that excite me musically. The next step is to look at the musical principle behind the idea -- and then develop my own ideas based on that. You are benefiting from the inspiration but are able to take it a step farther and make it part of your own musical vision.

"I have never set out to be an innovator or an iconoclast, but rather to write the music that feels very true to me at the moment," Barth said. "That is the highest calling for me as a musician or a person. That is the highest calling - to keep growing and a musician and a composer."

Barth will bring his trio with Foster and Okegwo into the Regattabar in Cambridge, Mass., on Feb. 12, then be featured at the Village Vanguard for the first time as a leader Feb. 19-24 with the same unit. His quartet, with Steve Wilson aboard, will tour Spain in April.

Barth also works regularly in Wilson's band and that of Brazilian vocalist Luciana Souza. He has also kept busy producing a series of fine vocal recordings for MAXJAZZ, including projects by Laverne Butler, Rene Marie, Carla Cook and Mary Stallings.

"The label is very respectful of the artists. The artists are given a lot of freedom to record the music they want to record, and to use the musicians that they want to use. My role as producer in some ways is as a facilitator -- helping to fulfill his or her vision -- rather than impose my vision on the artist.

"Being an artist myself, I could never be less than respectful of the artist. Sometimes it's just a matter of providing help with an arrangement, or ensuring the consistent quality of the recording," Barth said.

"I feel really lucky. I am in the company of great musicians, great people."