Keeping the jazz tradition alive, the Verve Jazz Ensemble expands and retracts into various sizes and shapes on this collection of vintage sounds. The core trio of Josh Fledstein/dr, Steve Einerson/p and Elias Bailey/b serve as a rich foundation for various quartets to septets, while sounding uptown on a rich bass dominated “Lil Darlin,” suave “Love For Sale” and brushed off “Tangerine.” The horns of tatum Greenblatt/tp, Jon Blanck/ts, Alexa Tarantino/as-fl and Willie Applewhite/tb are cut and paste to bop hard as a full ensemble on the band’s own title track and does a hip reggae read of Stan Kenton’s “Intermission Riff” while Greenblatt is bright and clear on “My Shining Hour.” The front line horns bop well on “Disc Jockey Jump” and have fun on the peppy “Jumping on the Couch.” The fingers are snapping to these tunes.
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