On stage, Milwaukee saxophonist Johnny Padilla covers a wide range, including smooth fusion, salsa and merengue. He focuses on traditional and contemporary jazz on his new CD, Bright Morning, where his sassy, inventive playing never feels constricted. Hard bop a la John Coltrane and more relaxed passages akin to Joshua Redman flow from Padilla's reed in combos of percussion, piano, electric bass and violoncello, often with a Latin tinge. Each of Padilla's band mates is given time to solo, but the man with the horn remains the gravitational center throughout.
A CD release show takes place Nov. 3 at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts.
