Drummer Herlin Riley shows his New Orleans roots here with a mix of incessant groove and a dash of other cultures on this rich session. He brings together Emmet Cohen/p, Russell Hall/b, Bruce Harris/tp and Godwin Lewis/as-ss for some snappy material such as “The Big Banana,” which has Lewis’ soprano gliding over Riley’s crisp stick work, while his warm alto slinks over the sandied “Shake Off The Dust.” Mark Whitfield loans his guitar for a nice solo while Hall and Riley dig deep on “New Direction,” while Pedrito Martinez adds some percolating percussion to Harris’ muted trumpet on “A Spring fantasy” and the festive “Connection to Congo Square.” Riley gets the boogie down on “Harlem Shuffle” and even throws in some vocals on the boogalooing “Tootie Ma” that gets more infectious with each chorus. This is a fun one!
Mack Avenue Records