Hard Bop Heaven is reached on this album that feels like a vintage Blue Note session as alto saxist Corey Weeds fronts a team with Terell Stafford/tp, Harold Mabern/p, Michael Glynn/b and Julian MacDonald/dr. The tunes feature material by the likes of Tina Brooks, Jackie McLean and Lee Morgan, so you know that backbeat is hip and the drive is at 92 Octane.
Mabern and Glynn boogaloo through Morgan’s “Bluesanova” and set the pace for the night with Stafford and Weeds in strong macho form. Weeds’ tone is less bright than McLean’s (who’s isn’t?), making “Toylpso” warmer and the snappy “The Three Minors” crisp and rich while “Consequence” crackles with sharp corners. The horns lilt on Brooks’ sensuous “Gypsy Blue,” Weeds sighs on the lyrical “Fagienne” and MacDonald rides the cymbal like a whip on the groover “Mood Malody.” The biceps are flexed on this one!