Bob Merrill displays his prowess at both the horn and voice on this hip collection of tunes that range from jazz standards to boomer classics to outer space. He teams up with Nicki Parrott/b-voc, Drew Zingg/g, John Medeski-Matthew Fries/p, George Schuller/dr Vicente Lebron/perc and Russ Gershon/wwinds along with other cameos for a thoroughly enjoyable mix that swings with delight.
They take the Traffic hit “Glad” and turn it into a sizzling Latin romp, along with Medeski’s B3, while the team boogaloos along Burt Bacharach’s “Say A Little Prayer.” Zingg’s guitar allows Merrill to be coy, playing with “Feeling Groovy” (along with Parrot’s vocals) and “The Secret of Life” and even the current hit “Happy” gets a goose with Merrill’s horn and a Santana-esque guitar solo by Zingg. Best of all is a wry read of Randy Newman’s “Political Science” and a very hip fastball of “The Creator Has A Master Plan” which takes the space age modal classic and puree’s it into a Rat Pack hipster 6 pack. Gotta love this guy’s moxie!
Accurate Records