Album review: Dan Waldman Quartet - Sources

Dan Waldman (guitar); Will Vinson (alto/soprano sax); Ryan Berg (bass); Kassa Overall (drums).

It doesn't happen very often but, occasionally - and I do mean very occasionally - you hear the first few bars and you know that this is for you. It's the across a crowded room/face in a train that is passing by syndrome set to music.

It happened when I first heard The Atomic Mr Basie,  discovered Sinatra or Bird or Getz to mention but some. Now, I'm not suggesting that this is in that league but, who knows that in years to come it won't be?

The opening riff from Vinson, simple as it is, just a few notes, told me so much more than a bravura cadenza would have done. 

Both Waldman and Vinson are Brits who've made it to New York, absorbed the scene and been accepted. This is an intriguing album well worth checking out. It's contemporary, but not in the sense that it ignores the fundamentals of all good jazz, the bread and butter is there - it's just the filling that is different. Waldman is, for me a revelation, whilst Vinson confirms his ever increasing standing at either side of the pond. Team them with a couple of in demand New Yorkers and the result is indeed a special relationship.
Lance

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Available July 30.