First, it should be stated that this record is good- very, very good. Blake is a talented saxophonist who shows his abilities and those of his band mates over a varied and interesting set of tunes. If he were a mediocre musician this would be a sufficient effort, and the album would be easier to understand; just pleasant enough to avoid the unsettling feeling that it, instead, creates.

The problem is that Shayari contains glimpses of real profundity. There is a depth in this man’s art that, by occasional manifestation, makes the ‘very good’ seem trite and insincere. “Atonement,” for example, is a brooding minor drone in which Blake’s solo reveals moments of spontaneity and inspired lyricism which make the cleaner, more practiced phrases standout as spell-breakers. Ditto for pianist Michael Cain, whose solo entrance is so polite that it’s offensive. “Teddy” contains a few phrases hackneyed enough to have been read from a ‘how-to-comp-in-jazz’ text.

The upside is that the greater moments are truly great. The beauty achieved in songs like “The Island” and “Remember the Rain” is moving, and the fire of “76” leaves one stirred and feisty; Blake showing the chops that he can so-often keep hidden (a rare quality that in a different context should be lauded to no end). Another highlight is the performance given by drummer Jack DeJohnette throughout the album, who seems incapable of sounding complacent in any setting.

Shayari is a complicated statement that deserves repeated attentive listening. The feeling of inconclusiveness it invokes is itself the mark of a significant work, and shows Ron Blake to be beyond the quickly-digestible or easily-dismissed.

-Craig Schum