With all of the headlines about Sinatra and Holiday’s 100th birthday, no one seems to remember that Billy Strayhorn was also born in 1915. Leave it to a drummer, Jacob Roved, to do something about it, as he leads John Ruiocco/cl-sax, Thomas Fryland/tp, Rasmus Ehlers/p and Jesper Bodilsen-Jakob Roland/b through ten Strayhorn classics.
Ruocco’s clarinet usage was a stroke of genius, as it melds wonderfully on the snappy “Johnny Come Lately” and glows on the dreamy “A Flower is A Lonesome Thing.” Fryland’s trumpet is open and warm on “Something To Live For” and thoughtful along with Ehlers’ piano on “Passion Flower.” Roved himself is sleek on the brushes during the chamber-sounding “Lotus Blosom” and gives a clever Latin tinge to the usually somber “Chelsea Bridge.” Even more surprising, and pleasantly so, is the extroverted read of “Day Dream” with a ¾ pulse a perfect vehicle for the horns. Strays would give a salute here.
Gateway Music