Best Legacy For a Local Composer

For nearly four decades Atlanta native and saxophonist JEFF CROMPTON has stood among the city’s finest jazz musicians. The 56-year-old retired Fulton County High School band teacher conjures his mojo as a composer and leader of his own groups large (Edgewood Big Band) and small (Edgewood Saxophone Trio). In 2016, Crompton’s legacy was encapsulated on a 7-inch disk. “Tutwiler Depot,” originally penned in the early ’80s, features a glorious collision of baritone, tenor, alto, and soprano saxophones that re-creates the Mississippi train station where W.C. Handy first heard the blues. The B-side, “King Oliver in Savannah,” a relentlessly boogying piece of music written in the late ’90s, is a buzzing hive of reeds, rendering a portrait of the once-great leader of one of the world’s finest jazz ensembles. Like everything else Crompton writes and plays, both songs prod the intellect with a balance of reverential blues and avant-garde jazz that swings like the devil’s juke joint. Crompton has long been viewed as one of Atlanta’s most accomplished players and composers. Now the proof is available for listening. www.jeffcrompton.com. less...