Alto sax man Jim SNidero knows his way around a horn. He’s done stints with Sinatra, the Akiyoshi-Tabackin Big Band and the Mingus Big Band, so he can go from melodic to left center field with a swing of the bat. Here, he teams up with Fabian Almazan/p, Linda Oh/b and Rudy Royston/dr on a mix of standards and clever covers. To exemplify this man’s confidence in the song, he lets Almazan open up the album with a gently driving and deft solo on “Duluth at Noon” for almost half the tune before he decides to step in with a warm state of the union address. Hip post bop driving is felt on Post Time Saratoga” and a finger snapping “Born in Redwood City” while getting deep into the blues on “Oxford Square.” He delivers a melancholy howl on “Las Vegas Tango” and glows in the dark on “Autumn in New York.” Mixing fun and frenzy, he takes the Tex-Mex classic “The Streets Of Laredo,” lets Oh’s bass have a bit of fun and then takes the song out across the border. This guy’s got more ideas than these Berklee babes. At this stage of his career he’s the standard bearer.
Savant Records