Done right, the jazz trio is the marrow of the music. These two groups do it right…
Does Christian McBride ever take a day off? What’s he got? Two mortgages or 3 kids college that he’s saving for? He’s ALWAYS touring around, and if he only releases two albums a year, he’s slumming it. Here’s his second one already, a cooker with Christian Sands/p and Ulysses Owens Jr/dr, making the blue feel so good on “Ham Hocks and Cabbage” and getting you to the church on time on the gospel hipster “Hallelujah Time.” Clever interplay and time changes keep you on your toes on a “Cherokee” that goes back and forth between bass and drums, while Sands’ piano glows on a cascading take of “My Favorite Things.” Saving the best for last, McBride taps into his inner James Jamerson for a hot and soulful reading of Johnny Taylor’s “Who’s Making Love” that will put your corpuscular pedal to the metal. Oh Yeah!
Pianist Chip Stephens teams up with Dennis Carroll/b and Joel Spencer/dr to mix a collection of standards and originals that are a tribute to the effects of his father’s life, and the relevancy of his own after a car accident with his sons. You’d think the music would be dominated by Janis Ian-styled moods, but the feel is definitely more on the celebratory side of eternity. A hot and feisty take of Carla Bley’s “Syndrome” gets you into the right frame of mind, while the jaunty “Like Someone In Love” has Stephens hitting the keys with full fists of fun. The band takes you to 12th and Vine with a KC toned “Hip’s Blues” and an earnest and propulsive “Skidoo” is counterbalanced by a elegant reading of “This Funny World.” A triumphant trio take.
Mack Avenue Jazz Records
Capri Records