Pianist Jeremy Manasia has a wide ranging post bop feel on his piano and expresses himself well on this exciting trio date with Ugonna Okegwo/b and Charles Ruggiero/dr.
He shows his allegiance to bop masters with some rich Monk ideas on the hard swinging title tune driven along by Ruggiero’s sticks, while he boogaloos like Vince Guaraldi on the p ulsating “Simply Put”. Lyricism a la Chick Corea is sly on “Tony’s Tune” and he swings lyrically to Ruggiero’s cymbals on “House Rules> Okegwo displays his wares on the gentle and classy romantic “Curitiba Girl” and the team gets dark and grooving on the confident “Swea Peas’ Savvy Sauve” as Manasia taps into his inner Gene Harris. Lots of fun and impressive interplay, with the team turning on a dime.