John Bunch
Do Not Disturb
Arbors Records
www.arborsrecords.com

Evan Christopher
Remembering Song
Arbors Records
www.arborsrecords.com
By George W. Harris

Here are a couple timeless releases that reaffirm all that is good and joyful about jazz. Emphasis on substance, style and sound. What a concept!

We just lost pianist John Bunch, who along with John Hicks and John Mayer, seemed to be the last of a dying breed; solid accompanists that could play any melody any time. Known as The Fred Astaire Of The Piano, Bunch justifies his moniker along with the gypsy swing guitarist Frank Vignola and swinging bassist John Webber for 70+ minutes of music that bounces like a Super Ball.

Whether it’s the 8 to the bar boogie of his own “John’s Bunch,” the mellifluous Jerome Kern “Bill” or the bopping “Anthropology,” Bunch and company plays it just right. They skip like a stone over Lake Superior on “Four” with some fascinating unison work between all three just before going back into the chorus. Vignola’s guitar is a mix between Django Reinhardt and Herb Ellis, able to sound like 52nd street or a Bohemian caravan throughout, but with extra pizzazz on Porter’s “Get Out Of Town.” Swinging as effortlessly as the Oscar Peterson trio, but with an extra exotic flavor. Pure jazz joy.

Creole clarinetist Evan Christopher mixes Crescent City passion with Chicago swing and just a dash of bebop on this spaciously satisfying release. The brilliant quartet combo of Christopher with the steady Basie-like strumming of Bucky Pizzarelli, the single note Charlie Christian runs by James Chirillo’s electric guitar and Greg Cohen’s fluid base make for music that mixes the passion of NO with the lighter than air breeze of Benny Goodman’s classic sextet with the aforementioned Christian. Christopher’s originals like “The Wrath of Grapes” have a confident jaunt, while tunes like Jelly Roll Morton’s “My Home Is In A Southern Town” and “Dear Old Southland” have a gentle laziness like an afternoon and the Café du Monde. Christopher’s stick is woody, filled with feeling, but not lacking in chops, while the guitar duo get together for some of the best strumming and picking this side of Count Basie. If you don’t like this kind of stuff, you might as well take up macramé, as this is as good as music gets.