CD Review: JazzMain - A Sound for Sore Ears

Nick Gould (ten); Steve Grossart (keys); Jennifer Clark/Owen MacDonald (bs); Kevin Dorrian (dms).

(Review by Lance).

Since the fortnightly Tuesday night jam sessions began at the Jazz Café there have been many sitters-in welcomed and none more so than Edinburgh's Nick Gould who occasionally pops down for a jam.

Well, come June 19, Nick will be playing the upper room of The Caff as part of JazzMain and, on the strength of this CD, it is going to be a night to savour for those of us who like what was called Modern Jazz before it became known as contemporary.

This is classic tenor playing - think Hank Mobley or Jimmy Heath or George Coleman. The latter two tenor men provide, respectively, the title track - A Sound For Sore Ears and Amsterdam After Dark.

Dizzy's Tin Tin Deo; Al Jarreau's Mornin'; Jaco's The Chicken and Mingus' Nostalgia in Time Square are other jazz standards that I think the composers would have given the nod to.

Throw in a few Gassers such as Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most; Willow Weep For Me (done in 3), Mel's Born To Be Blue; Almost Like Being in Love; It Ain't Necessarily So and You Don't Know What Love Is and you know where these guys (and a gal) are coming from.

The Blue Note/Prestige/Riverside labels from the '50s/'60s produced some of jazz's defining moments and the music here can sit happily alongside those classic albums.

Of course JazzMain isn't just about Nick. This is a fine swinging quartet who gell from the word go.

Pianist Grossard feeds the chords and pops in and out with effective solos - You Don't Know What Love Is is something else. Reflective and full of feeling for the tune whilst still stamping his identity on it. Bass and drums do what bass and drums are supposed to do - mind the store and keep the shelves well stocked.
June 19 -- put it in your diary now!
Listen to Amsterdam After Dark.
More tracks.
Lance