As a reed player myself, I’m doubly impressed by the confidence that Brian Landrus has in both his sound and flexibility of instrumentation here. It takes a lot of confidence to do a horn led trio section, which he does here with Lonnie Plaxico/b and Billy Hart/dr, but he then ups the ante by switching between four dark and deep toned woodwinds, namely the baritone sax, the BASS sax, the bass flute and the bass clarinet. He mixes originals and covers here, and he shows moxie as he does an unaccompanied read on the bari of “Giant Steps” that is both timely and tasty, and using his bass clarinet on a reflective “Just A Fading Memory.”
Once in the trio format, he wisely keeps the tunes concise and melodious, with a spacious bari read on “Sophisticated Lady” and letting the embers burn orange with his clarinet on “Fields of Zava.” Hart is subtle and suave in his supporting role with Landrus’ flute on “Will She Ever Know” and delivers a restless undercurrent while Landrus broods on bass clarinet on “Once Again.” The one time Landrus takes on the bass sax he gets the floor to vibrate on the visceral “The Beginning.” Impressive on a plethora of levels.
Blue Land Records