Alto saxist Nicholas Brust has a vintage bebopper’s heart, giving a feel of someone in the Phil Woods or Art Pepper tradition with his team of Ben Eunson/g, Tuomo Uusitalo/p, Josh Allen/b and Jay Sawyer/dr working through some rich originals. Brust uses Eunson’s guitar work well, creating echoey drapery on the warm and lyrical “Brooklyn Folk Song” and letting him stretch out over Sawyer’s pulsating cymbals on the hip “Adversity”. Reflective bass and drums support rich tones on “Hearts and Spades” and some sophisticated harmonies give a Miles Davis ESP-ish feel on “Hymnal For Those In Need” and “Frozen In Time”. Brust glows best with Uusitalo on the easy swing of “Soliloquy in F Minor” and with Sawyer dropping out, Brust floats like a mist on “A Shifting State”. Music not lost in the woods.
https://www.freshsoundrecords.com/nicholas-brust-albums/51380-frozen-in-time.html