Markus Rutz displays the benefits of a warm horn in a mix of settings with Brice Winston on tenor/soprano sax, pianist Adrian Rutz, guitarist Matt Gold, Marcos Valera on bass and switching between drummers Xavier Breaker or Marcus Garcia, replacing them with percussionist Heitor Garcia or going without the trap set completely.
Of the latter, Rutz and Ruiz are golden on a sublime “East to West”, the horns glide with Valera through “Looking Out Windows” and float on Sam Rivers’ “Beatrice.” Garcia provides a percolating pulse for the sweet samba’d “A Cidade do Vento”, with Winston’s soprano dainty on “Shipmates”. Breaker snaps everyone to attention and Ruiz brings a Hancockian touch to McCoy Tyner’s “Passion Dance” with the mood continuing on the ESPish read of Frank Foster’s “Simone”. All through, Rutz’s brass is golden and polished, making you think of vintage Art Farmer, no mean feat.