Bartholomew, or to give him his official moniker, Dr Bartholomew, is a music professor at Florida Memorial University who has just released his debut album and a fine one it is too.
The title, Balancing Act, refers to the elusive balancing act Dr Bartholomew is required to perform and merge the group's cohesion with the individual inventiveness of his fellow musicians. Rather like marshalling a room full of cats and expecting them all to go off in the same direction. These cats do their own thing without losing their way home.
The good doctor composed and arranged all ten tracks. The Long and Winding Road has nothing to do with the Beatles. It's a bouncy, Yellow Brick Road romp that has nothing to do with cowardly lions or wicked witches either although it does have some soprano sax wizardry from Fernandez as does Time Apart which isn't a tribute to Bill Evans.
There's a dollop or two of Brubeck in the mix although not enough to put you off and I suspect that had they ever met, and who's to say that they hadn't?, I think there would have been plenty of mutual respect.
The rhythm section's sound and Zuniga's solo on There and Back Again (I think) captures the mood of, I quote, 'a lifetime rife with danger, magic and burglary'.
Well worth checking out HERE. Lance
Crazy Socks; Sunny Days; Bring the Noise; Hobo's Lullaby; Balancing Act; The Long and Winding Road; Time Apart; There and Back Again; Mirror Image; Midnight Nefarity; Crazy Socks (bonus track by trio)
No comments :
Post a Comment