The Michael O’Neill Quartet: And Then It Rained

Michael O’Neill plays a plethora of reeds on this rich collection of post-bop originals with a nifty team consisting of pianist Michael Bluestein, drummer Jason Lewis and bassist Dan Feiszli. On soprano sax, his sound is bright and peppy on the Latin-tinged “Port of Spain” and he gets sweet on the genteel waltz of “Early Spring”, weaving through Feiszli’s bowed bass on the easy cadence of the title tune. His tenor sax is rich and confident body surfing over Lewis’ wave of a cymbal on “Cloudscape” and goes bel canto over rich work of Feiszli and Buestein on the ebullient ballad “Emerging Impressions”. A bright also sax sashays on the Brazilian “Maverick’s Samba” while his clarinet is warm and woody for the romantic “Song For Mama Bear”. Lots of rapture in these reeds.

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