This recording of "These Things" comes from The Doug Webb Quartet's 2014 album Sets the Standard. The tune is Webb's own contrafact based on the chord changes of Jerome Kern's "All The Things You Are," a common practice in jazz where a new melody is composed over an existing harmonic framework. Webb takes three choruses on tenor saxophone over the 36-bar AABA form in A-flat at 222 BPM, stretching out over the sophisticated chord progression with the fluency and inventiveness of a master improviser. His lines are muscular and driving, reflecting the more assertive side of his musical personality. Pianist Alan Broadbent follows with two choruses at an increased 235 BPM, demonstrating his remarkable ability to maintain harmonic clarity and melodic beauty even as the tempo climbs. Bassist Putter Smith then takes two choruses at 225 BPM, a rare extended bass solo that speaks to Smith's stature as a musician and the egalitarian spirit of the quartet. Smith, a veteran of the Los Angeles jazz scene who famously appeared in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever, brings a deeply musical approach to his solo. The three-way sequence of extended solos makes this the album's most expansive performance, offering a comprehensive view of the quartet's collective improvisational firepower.
