Trombonist/composer Bill Cantrall leads a driving hard bop team through a driving gig at the NYC’s famous Kitano club, demonstrating that classic elements of jazz are still alive and well. The regular team of Stacy Dillard/ts-ss, Rick Germanson/p, Gerald Cannon/b and Darrell Green/dr stretch out on clever themes such as “BBM” and “Sharphead” allowing the leader to demonstrate his drive on the former and the pianist on the latter. Most of the songs run from 8-12 minutes, so everyone gets a chance at the spotlight, particularly on the marathon Axiom, which has 23 minutes of playing filled in with a long unaccompanied solo by Dillard, as well as some guest appearances by Mike DiRubbo/as and Freddie Hendrix/tp. The time goes by fairly well, but as the soloists rarely overstay their welcome. Good grooves this night out!
Up Swing Records