Beating The Odds With Leigh

Beating The Odds With Leigh

Bruce Von Stiers

I think it's been about seven years since I reviewed the album `Strunkin' by jazz saxophonist Leigh Pilzer. Since that time, a lot of things have happened, both in the world and to Leigh specifically. Leigh was diagnosed with cancer. And sometime later the pandemic happened. Leigh had become cancer free by that time. But with the world basically shutting down for a while, Leigh performing before audiences and lecturing college students wasn't allowed to happen.

Leigh has a new album that delves into both the pandemic era and her cancer struggle and recovery. The album is appropriately titled Beatin' The Odds. The album highlights Leigh as both an artist and a band leader. And as a bandleader, she calls the musicians on the album, Leigh Pilzer's Seven Pointed Star.

Leigh assembled a super talented group of musicians from the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. areas to be members of this band and play on this album. Ally Hany Albrecht was on trumpet for several tracks. Mercedes Beckman played alto saxophone on the first five songs on the album. Kenny Rittenhouse played trumpet. Jen Krupa and Joe Jackson played trombone. Sherrie Maricle and Frank Russo were on drums. Greg Holloway provided percussion on one song and Tim Green played alto sax on four songs. Amy Shook played bass on the album. And Leigh played both baritone and bass saxophones, along with the bass clarinet.

Leigh composed all but one of the songs on the album. Amy Shook composed that song.

SKCC is a melodic tune with some terrific bass, piano and saxophone. The song's title is the initials of the cancer center where Leigh was diagnosed and treated for her cancer.

Lin was Leigh's surgeon. His caring and gentle way of conveying her cancer diagnosis led Leigh to compose this soft, mellow song.

Waterkress is named for Leigh's oncologist. It has a toe-tapping beat with mild sax and other horns mixed in with nice bass and drums.

The Platinum Taxi begins with a lot of bass then moves into a subtle, smooth sax movement with the tickling of keys and a bit of drums. Oh, and it has some clarinet in it as well. Leigh stated that the song's title “comes from my medications, carboplatin and Taxotere.”

Beatin' The Odds is a toe-tapping piece with a lot of great drums, trumpet, and sax. It also has some nice bass melding into it. This song was written by Amy Shook, who undertook the composition as an anthem for Leigh becoming, and staying, cancer free.

And Then It Stopped has a slight funk tone mixed in with some trumpet sounding a little like mellow Dizzy. Leah describes the song as a reference to the pandemic and subsequent lockdown. As the title suggests, performances were cancelled, and she spent a lot of time at home in reflection.

Last Year, Lost Year is at times light and easy and other times a bit more dramatic. This song showcases Leigh's talents on saxophone. Tim Green had a fantastic solo on the song. There are also some great horn sounds from the other artists and nice piano. Again, referencing the pandemic, the song emulates the concerns that Leigh, and many others, had about how many people had died, how long would it last and, not surprisingly, can toilet paper be found on store shelves.

How Much Longer has some cool percussion to start it out. Then there is some great sax and piano.

Where Will We Go is the final song on the album. It has a toe-tapping beat. In fact, the song is pretty upbeat. There is some nice bass, drum and piano mixed in with the sax. As the songs on the album reflected leigh's cancer recovery and elements of the pandemic, the song nicely wraps up the sentiment as both Leigh's continued recovery from cancer and the world moving forward from the pandemic.

Beatin' The Odds is a terrific album. It has great jazz music and the stories behind the songs are both heartfelt and inspiring.

Beatin' The Odds is being released by Strange Woman Records. It is available on Spotify along with selected music retailers.

To find out more about Leigh Pilzer and Beatin' The Odds, visit Leigh's official website at https://www.leighpilzer.com/

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