Not only is it a treat to hear some great modern male singers, but on this disc it’s multiplied by three as the inter-generational team of Gregory Porter, Mansur Scott and Donald Smith take both solo turns and work together on a thrilling set of soulful jazz tunes. Bandleader and trombonist Paul Zauner brings to the table a smoking hot funk brother band of Barney Girlinger/tp-fgl, Klaus Dickbauer/as-bcl, Klemens Pliem/ts-fl, Martin Reiter/key, Wolfram Derschmidt/b and Howard Curtis through standards and hard bop classics.
Gregory Porter takes on “Moanin’” with the tone and drive of Benny Golson, while he gloriously glows on the colors of ROY G BIV on “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Mansur Scott gets down and dirty with a red-clay earthy delivery of “Doing Hard Time” that sweats like a scene from Cool Hand Luke, while his reading of “Song For My Father” is as sharp as a Marine’s salute. He does a h ip intro to “Watermelon Man” that has Donald Smith take the baton and end up spitting out some black seeds, while his delivery of Lonnie Liston Smith’s “Expansions” is hipper than any Kardashian in town. The threesome gets together for a wondrously soulful reading of Horace Silver’s “Peace” rejuvenating not only a singing genre, but an approach to music and culture that has been sorrowfully overlooked. WHEW!
PAO Records