Just when you started losing hope in jazz…
This is the kind of jazz that got me hooked on it. From the 2005 Newport Jazz Festival, tenor titan Joe Lovano brings together a “classic” team of Hank Jones/p, George Mraz/b and Lewis Nash/dr for a mix and match of bopping modern standards and originals.
Everyone is in muscular form; Lovano’s horn is rough, gruff and full of tough as he digs into his pieces like “I’m All For You” and the bopping “Birds’ Eye View.” The veteran Hank Jones is a force unto himself, and swings like it’s 52nd Street as he stretches out on a blistering “Big Ben” and “Six and Four.” Mraz gets his time in the spotlight here as well, elastic as a rubber band and keeping the toes tapping along with Nash. Straight ahead, right down the line with no frills, just thrills!
Blue Note Records