Here’s what post bop sounds like in the hands of a term I’ve made up, called “neo-vets.” A “Neo-vet” is someone who’s not an old timer, but has been around too long to be considered a newcomer. Not overly conservative in his style, he takes the mainstream post bop, and adds a dash of this and that. Is it its own distinctive style, or completely void of one? You tell me!
Pianist David Budway goes from classic bebop to the middle east on this disc that centers around the trio of himself, Eric Revis/b and Jeff “Tain” Watts/dr. This unit is high on intensive and hyperactive technique, as shown on the Tyner-infused “Phi” or highly kinetic “Maintain Speed Through Tunnel.” Soprano sax work provided by Branford Marsalis or Marcus Strickland make songs like “Lonely Cane” and “Japanese Brunch” a bit more cluttered than they deserve to be, while Budway’s solo excursions on standards like “Round Midnight” or “You’d Be So Nice…” are given a bit more rhythmic juice than they seem to need. A bit more restraint could have gone a long way here.
Seamus Blake has one of the warmest sounds on tenor, and on this disc with sweet toned trumpeter Alex Sipiagin, keyboardist David Kikoski, bassist Boris Koslov and drummer Donald Edwards, he puts together a nice mix of classic yet forward thinking hard bop for the bands eponymous debut. The team as a unit weaves like an open field runner on George Cables’ “Think Of Me” while they get a bit MIngusy on Kozlov’s “Nostalgia In Time.” Blakes tenor rolls in like a San Francisco fog on “Asami’s Playland” while Sipiagin’s genteel brass shines on his spotlight during the facile “Ton to Tom.” Lots to like on this session.
If you haven’t seen tenor/soprano saxist Bob Sheppard perform, then you must not live in LA, as he’s frequented every club in town, gigging with the likes of Kurt Elling to Chick Corea. This disc, featuring some of So Cal’s best musicians (Alan Pasqua/p, John Beasley/p, Larry Koonse/g, Antonio Sanchez/dr, Gave Noel/b, Walter Rodriquez/perc) and guest Alex Sipiagen on a couple of tracks, has Sheppard running the gamut of woodwinds, from tenor sax to flute various clarinets. Tricky tunes like the guitar tenor front line of “Surface Tension” are putty in Sheppards hands, while his soprano on “Fast Company” is crisp and sharp. A couple cooking little B3 ditties like “Gazelle” make you feel you’re at a second set in a Valley club, while his “Goodbye” with Noel is as lonely as a night under a freeway overpass. Impressive chops, albeit a bit anonymous in sound.
MaxJazz Records
Criss Cross Jazz Records
BFM Jazz