Another fine recording from 'over there' by a group of musicians who maybe aren't household names 'over here' but certainly should be on the strength of this album alone.
Johnson, a jazz professor at The Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, composed all of the pieces, touching on the overwhelming sensation that the sight of beauty can elicit - I'll go along with that - hence the title First Glance.
The album abounds in beauty but, don't go away thinking that this a collection of late night love songs although they are part of the scenario. No, the overall beauty is in the compositions. Whether fast slow or in between the beauty is ever present. It's there in the composer's piano playing as well as, and this is where beauty is given a capital B, in Sharel Cassity's solos!
Where has she been all my life? Alto, soprano or, on the final track playing tenor, she blows away a lot of male and female egos!
On that final track - Sunday Devotion - Paul Mutzabaugh augments the ensemble on (presumably) Hammond B3 giving it a churchy, bluesy, down home feeling - amen.
An album that's worth more than a first glance. It will be on my car stereo tomorrow - the ultimate accolade! Lance.
The Cut Off; First Glance; Soprano Blues; No WiFi; Sunset; Trapped; Last Minute; Sunday Devotion.
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