Classic and classy sounds are delivered by the team of Jeff Holmes on piano and trumpet, Thomas Giampietro hitting the drums, bassist Fumi Tomita and Felipe Salles playing a rotating section of saxes on this collection of originals. The name of the band comes from the first letter of each member’s last name, and you’d think with such clever music that a more original moniker could have been dreamed up.
The music, however, is filled with great ideas, as when Holmes takes up his trumpet and bops with Salles’ tenor on “Rowley Street” that includes a nimble solo by Tomita or when he switches to keyboards to get into a soulful mood with Salles’ alto and Tomita’s electric strings on the finger snapping “Minnesota in Montana”. Salles’ soprano floats with serenity over rich piano musings on “Not At All” and displays passion on the rich rubato’d “Faith Rewarded”. Giampietro is crisp and sharp as he drives Holmes’ splashing ivories on the post bopping “Unintentional Hipness” and gives a steady swing to “Thornbush”. As vintage as a blue dinner jacket.