Always overlooked and ignored unless in a big band setting, the trombone gets the limelight on these three recent releases.
We’ve got more sliding here than Rickey Henderson, as Wayne Coniglio plays bass and tenor trombone along with Scott Whitfield’s sliding brass, teamed up with Ken Kehner/p, Eric Warren/b and Kevin Gianino. If that ain’t enough, Jacob Melsa makes it three of a kind on a handful of tracks as the horns bop on “The Determinator” and drive hard on the modal “Recordame”. Melsha even brings in his charming voice to blend in with Debbie Lennon and Elsie Parker for a sensuously swaying samba of “Mimi.” As a two brass team, the gents sometimes meld gloriously for harmonic wonders as on “Swirling”, do some great counterpoint for the waltzing “Little B’s Poem” or swing easy on “Step Checkitude”. There’s a fun time with some muted plunging on the fun “Free and Easy” and melodic wonders in open brass for “You’re My Dream Come True.” Bright and polished brass.
Large toned trombonist Jared Dubin brings together Nick Biello/as, Syberen van Munster/g, Sebastien Ammann/p-key, Russ Flynn/b and Danny Wolf/dr for a collection of original post boppers. The emphasis is on funky soul atmospheres, as the team has van Munster and Dubin getting chunky on the title track and the urgently thick “Working Class”. Wolf drives Biello and Dubin for some jabbing and poking work on the modal “Passive Aggressive” and has the team sway to the bluesy “Martial Law”. Dubin himself is glowing on his intro to “Time Apart” and puffs like a marathon runner on the bopping “The Breaks”. Big bell tones.
Butter toned trombonist JC Sanford opens up in a spartan trio setting with only bass (Jeff Bailey) and drum (Phil Hey) to support and guide on this collection of vintage jazz standards. In a setting like this, there is nowhere to hide, but Sanford makes it work well, showing off his big sound on a surprisingly loose and spaciously patient read of “Cherokee” and he displays a wide vibrato on a languid “Where Or When”, coaxed along by Bailey’s open fingers. Hey serves well brushing under a puffing Sanford on “Time After Time” and snaps to the supple bop of “Dear John”. Bailey paints pastels as he leads on “Single Petal of a Rose” and locks in deep with Hey for a dark and wondrous atmosphere for Sanford’s read of “ Juju”.
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