James Zito (guitar/executive producer); Rodney Whitaker
(bass); Joe Farnsworth (drums); Luther Allison (piano); Joseph Miller (alto
sax); Chris Lewis (tenor sax, flute); Jarien Jamanila (baritone sax); Nicholas Dimaria (trumpet);
Jack Kotze (trombone) + Georgia Heers, Tyreek McDole (vocals on tk 8)
Zito's Jump!. The title track is pure 1970s' soul/funk. It sounds authentic albeit a bit predictable. Zito knows his way around the fretboard that's for sure.
Bird in the Wind. A nice catchy tune with a relaxed tenor solo that brought Georgie Auld to mind, guitar solo full of choice chords and intervals.
Island Girl. Not sure which island the girl is from but the rhythm, the delicate flute solo, and the contributions from piano and guitar suggest somewhere warm.
Time Zone. Tenor skips a few decades and looks to the future. Guitar gets a riff going over Farnsworth's own time zone.
Ready 'n' Able. Fast! Guitar in overdrive, saxes phrase like three brothers. It only lasts a couple of minutes but what a couple of minutes!
Pense Nisso. A gentle reflective bossa - guitar and piano gave me something to think about. They were nice thoughts.
Minor Lies. The last of the originals, a fast blast with Zito setting the pace followed by some cracking ensemble passages.
The Nearness of You. Heers takes the first chorus, McDole the second before they duet their way out. Lovely!
The End of a Love Affair. Normally a ballad. Not so here. This affair ends with flying plates and no holds barred as guitar and tenor go for the jugular.
After You've Gone (take one). Zito opens up strolling casually along before double-tempoing with a jaw dropping solo that is quite awesome.
It Could Happen to You. I'm a bit lukewarm on this track. The dirge like tempo over the funereal backing meant it didn't happen to me. Still one out of twelve tracks is a high score by any standard. I've been known to buy albums where I only liked one track and still felt it was money well spent!
After You've Gone (take two). Not a great difference between the two takes - they both last two minutes and twenty nine seconds so that, with the value of hindsight, my jaw didn't drop quite as far. Well worth checking out. Lance
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