The opening Ballad Noir lives up to its name, the most evocative trumpet (flugel?) playing that I've heard since Art Farmer's solo on Gerry Mulligan's Night Lights. The hairs stood up on the back of my neck. It was like watching Psycho the first time around. Eerie, but beautiful.
Lagniappe (don't ask me!) is less emotive, more adventurous with Isham ticking all the boxes in his solo and deservedly drawing the applause from the audience at the iconic L.A jazz club Vitellos.
Wayne Sorter's Fall is another piece of poignancy with piano and trumpet once again reflecting a mood that although recorded in 2011 is probably now, ten years later, even more in keeping with the times. The sense of doom continues with The Conversation - clearly Vitellos isn't a jazz dance venue.
Shorter is back in the frame with Nefertiti, the number he wrote when he was with Miles. There's ten and a half minutes of it and it's all beautifully done - soporifically so.
Loft Funk, by Mike Clark and one Jed Levy, is only 2:03 minutes but it helps to clear the cobwebs with Clark goosing it along.
It's a lovely album, albeit not for the car stereo at night on a busy motorway.
Lance
Available on Sunnyside Records. Bandcamp.
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