Young alto saxophonist/composer Pete Robbins has been garnering accolades in the Big Apple and beyond with his sophomore release, Waits and Measures (Playscape). At the Cornelia Street Café on Friday night, January 5^th, Robbins kicks off his Centric ensemble’s Manhattan “tour,” a prelude to a spring tour of Spain. Centric features Sam Sadigursky on tenor and soprano sax, Eliot Cardinaux on Nord Electro keyboard, Thomas Morgan on bass, and Dan Weiss on drums. All but Carindaux also appear on Waits and Measures, which includes keyboardist Eliot Krimsky (Nord and Fender Rhodes) .

A Boston native, Pete Robbins studied at Tufts University and the New England Conservatory of Music before moving to New York in 2002. In addition to his own ensembles, he has collaborated with such innovative musicians as Mark Dresser, Randy Peterson, Daniel Levin and Mary Halvorson. In addition to appearances at New York clubs such as the 55 Bar, Tonic, Cornelia Street Café and Bowery Poetry Club, Robbins regular appears in other east coast cities and in European venues and festivals. In 2004, he curated a jazz series at Cornelia Street that earned him recognition from the Village Voice as the season’s featured jazz artist. Robbins released his first recording, Centric, in 2003 and recently was awarded a 2006 Chamber Music America composition grant. He plans to return to the recording studio this spring.

Centric is described as a “jazz-rock hybrid,” and indeed the new recording is infused with rock beats and a free jazz approach to improvisation. Although Robbins did not label the Waits and Measures ensemble as “Centric,” the form of his nine compositions resembles a pool of concentric circles, repetitive themes tightly woven onto themselves in a cerebral analysis of time, space and harmony. “Waits and Measures” aptly describes the detailed attention to each motif. The nine tracks offer an introspective pursuit of recurring ideas rather than widely divergent themes, and Robbins makes the most –perhaps at times too much—of repetition of chords, patterns, and rhythms.

Waits and Measures starts with one of its strongest compositions, the delightfully jagged “Inkhead.” Robbins’ alto soars over Sadigurksy’s bass clarinet and some ferocious drum clusters from Weiss. Bass and drums provide an invigorating pulse, while well placed sustain chords from guitar and some interesting electronic effects from keyboards add to the melee. More often the compositional thrust is subtle and probing, as on the title track and on the longest tune, “There There” which opens with an extended bass solo from Morgan before the bass clarinet starts down a slow unwinding path. Here, and often throughout the recording, Robbins moves in a painstaking spiral that that slightly moves forward with each rotation. And on “There There” and frequently throughout, the center of movement is Dan Weiss, who steps up the tempo and awakens his bandmates from their respective trance states. “Why Not Us” begins with an introspective duet among the saxes, and through the fusiony effects of guitar and Rhodes, builds to launch Robbins on a twisting journey, ultimately to be joined by Sadigursky. The momentum doesn’t build to a climax as much as it turns the next corner, Robbins’ repeating phrases sliding into a ensemble coda.

On the shifty “Cankers and Medallions,” the Rhodes imitates vibes in tandem with the horns and what sounds like twangs from Gamble’s guitar. Again the most contrast is generated by Weiss, who counters the horns’ ostinato line with some shifting combinations on the toms. Some eerie effects (presumedly from keyboards and guitar) seem to draw in radio signals from another galaxy. The closing “Amadelia” is more uptempo than most of the tracks, with some interesting melodic collisions that create a forward-driving dissonance. Morgan’s bass solo moves in tandem with Weiss&mdash,an ominous counterpoint with bass the straight man and percussion the interloper. Robbins may have wisely brought this one to closure before it lost its way, but one wonders what other magic would have appeared had this continued beyond its 3 ½ minutes.

And one wonders what territory Pete Robbins and Centric will explore as they continue to evolve as a thoughtful unit, poised to unravel, one layer at a time, a chorus of ideas marked by subtlety flecked with surprise. The stage is set for new journeys this winter, starting on Friday, January 5^th at the Cornelia Street Café (29 Cornelia Street), sets at 9 and 10:30 pm.

In New York, Centric will perform January 27^th at Tonic and February 19^th at Bar 4. Their tour in Spain begins March 24^th. Check calendar for updates at www.peterobbins.com.