A delightful album of originals by Hand alongside his arrangements of Freddie Hubbard's Little Sunflower, the late night saloon classic One For my Baby and Stevie Wonder's Lately. The latter two feature special guest 89-year-old Houston Person.
Leader Hand solos exquisitely as indeed do the others driven along by Steve Johns.
Allen is another name to reckon with even in NYC, a city that probably has more brass players than Hamelin had rodents. Likewise, Braden is up there on all of his three instruments. Needless to say, Harvie S lays down a solid harmonic foundation as well as chipping in with a few tasty solos. Both pianists impress, Janeway on the Person tracks, Weidman on the others (apart from Little Sunflower where he sits out).
Houston brings the same emotion to One For my Baby as Sinatra did back in the day except Person doesn't need words. When Frank sings 'put another nickel in the machine, won't you make the music dreamy and sad' this would surely have been the appropriate choice.
The final track is a Monk inspired bopper - Curioso. Wow! I guess the folks who send out these review CDs know exactly what hits the spot with me!
An album to seek out. Lance
Hand me Down Blues; Cash or Charge; Bittersweet Morning; \Pedro's Samba; One For my Baby; Little Sunflower; Rosalyn; Blue Topaz; Lately; Curioso
No comments :
Post a Comment