Leo Richardson (tenor sax); Rick Simpson (piano); Tim Thornton (bass); Ed Richardson (drums) + Alex Garnett (tenor sax).
(Review by Lance)
As I've mentioned previously, I'm getting buried beneath an avalanche of the damn things (CDs). I'm wondering if I could maybe build a house with them. The only problem with that idea is that if I used this particular album as the foundation stone the house would collapse like a deck of cards by which I mean it would never be in the wall for very long - it would be on my player!
Yes, it's that good. As good as (it would be impossible to say better than) Richardson's first album The Chase - which, incidentally, had nothing to do with Dexter Gordon or Wardell Gray nor for that matter does Move have anything to do with Miles!
The hell it does! It has everything to do with Dexter, Wardell, Miles and anyone else who took their horn into the Blue Note Studios on West 47th or West 61st back in the day.
Hard bop not only lives but gets even harder as Leo blows as if there's no tomorrow without forgetting the yesterday that the music evolved from. However, it isn't all "my dad can play more notes than your dad" music. The ballad e.f.g. is as lyrical and melodic a composition as any of his Blue Note ancestors hit upon. By the way, all eight compositions are by Leo.
An ace rhythm section - dig mr.tim featuring Thornton on bass which is as good a head as Mr. PC - Simpson (or is it Sonny Clark?) provides the meat to Richardson's potatoes (or is it vice-versa?) Rick Simpson, remember the name when the jazz polls come around. I don't think Ed Richardson is related to Leo but, in jazz, they are blood brothers.
The final track brings another tenor player into the front line - Alex Garnett. This may be titled Second Wind but, for all intents and purposes, this is The Chase! The New New Jazz Couriers?
Lance
Available August 9 on Ubuntu Music UBU0026.
Launch at Pizza Express Jazz Club, Soho, London August 6.
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