After The Jazz Messengers we now have The Jazz Professors although, as I recall there have been several other similarly named ones in between. Including, of course The Jazz Couriers, The Jazz Defenders and The Jazz Passengers to mention but a few.
Certainly the Professors aren't passengers but nor are they Messengers. Their music is more controlled and less governed by the explosive drumming of the earlier group.
However, don't let this fool you into thinking that this is some efete nod towards the cool school that dominated the scene on California's west coast back in the mid '50s. Quite the contrary. It is a driving and yet thoughtful set of, mainly, originals that attempts to paint a musical picture based around the art of Pablo Picasso with particular emphasis on his Blue Period and his explorations into Cubism. It requires some imagination to draw parallels and one which is beyond me, even though I did once visit a Picasso exhibition in a local art gallery. Nevertheless, whether you can or can not make the connection, the music is superb.
Interestingly, the two non-originals are Parker's Segment and Bechet's Promenade Aux Champs-Elysées, two diverse pieces that work brilliantly as do the five numbers by Rupert, the two by Danielsson and the one by Drexler.
As the band's name suggests the musicians are indeed Professors holding down faculty positions in UCF's Jazz Studies programme.
If only I'd had teachers like these when I was at school!
Highly recommended. Lance
Blue Lamp; Dora Maar; Les Demoiselles d'Avignon; Blue Steel; Segment; View of Heaven; Promenade Aux Champs-Elysées; Promenade in Blue; Picasso's Blue Lobster; The Iberian.
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