I got weaned on jazz through classic hard bop quintets like Horace Silver, Art Blakey and Clifford Brown, and for my money, that’s just the essence of jazz, thank you. Trumpeter/composer Pharez Whitted must be a kindred spirit, as all of his music, as on this recent release, captures that joyful and muscular genre with the heart of a lion. He ups the ante by including guitarist Bobby Broom to the sound, so it’s actually a sextet with Eddie Bayard/ts-ss, Ron Perrillo/p-key, Dennis Carrol/b and Greg Artry/dr. But no matter, the energy is just given an extra cylinder.
He keeps the sound updated as well by giving a bit of a hip hop sound on tunes like “Watusi Boogaloo” but can also get the classic tenor/trumpet lines grooving like a Chevy Bel Air on “Another Kinda Blues.” The smooth as silk sway of “If The Could Only See” has some shimmering guitar work by the Rollins alumnus, while Whitted’s own horn is brilliant and warm, whether on the assertive “it Is What It Is” or the fragile “Sad Eyes.” This disc gives me much hope for jazz’s futures. A real keeper of the flame that BURNS!
Origin Records