One of the advantages of a certain trio format (reeds/bass/drums) is how much air it lets into the ensemble. There is a purity in this stripped-down configuration. Each player\'s inventions stand out in stark focus. The artistic precedents for The Magic Line can be found in Ornette Coleman\'s recordings from the Golden Circle in Stockholm, Joe Lovano\'s Trio Fascination, Sonny Rollins\' trios and the work of Air. Collectively and individually, Scott Colley\'s ensemble is not out of place in such distinguished company. Chris Potter is one of the most creative and consistent reed players in jazz. Through this album\'s 63 minutes, his improvisational flow almost never falls back to safe havens. Potter stays out on the tightrope. On bass, Colley possesses not only fluency and a huge, commanding sound, but taste and timing. He moves seamlessly among his various responsibilities here: tight unison theme statements with Potter, searching solos and support. Drummer Bill Stewart is a master craftsman of nuance and meaningful gesture. What differentiates this trio from its predecessors mentioned above is that, perhaps because it is led by a bassist, it is a more fully cooperative ensemble, given to role reversal. Stewart plays melody; Potter plots accentual variation; Colley gracefully segues between foreground and background. The album also employs formal structure to a surprising degree. Colley wrote eight of the 11 tunes, and each has a plan. „Take It And Like It“ is a post-modern boogaloo, as full of backbeat belligerence as the title implies. The „line“ in the title track, ambiguous with starts and stops and sudden swerves, is independently pursued by Colley and Potter (on tenor) and Stewart in turn. „Convergence“ integrates the three again, Potter bobbing and bouncing on top of rolling bass and drums. „Metropolis“ sounds like an encounter with the city\'s mean streets, Potter\'s bass clarinet halting and pensive, Colley and Stewart all ominous throbs and clatterings. The Magic Line is more patient and disciplined than most of the music in the free-bop genre to which it belongs. But it does not lack for daring decisions and flashes of spontaneous musical truth. The recorded sound is typical of engineer James Farber. It is clean and uncolored, but somewhat soft on detail. Colley\'s bass comes out best. It goes down deep enough to start objects moving around in your listening room. (Thomas Conrad)