Detroit has had a long time legacy of supply jazz with a surfeit of home grown artists including Tommy Flanagan, Barry Harris, James Carter, Lucky Thompson and Wardell Gray, and we won’t even mention soul artists like Stevie Wonder or James Jamerson. This latest collection of artists from the Motor City include Dwight Adams/tp, Andrew Bishop-Rafael Statin/ts, Miles Brown-Jeff Pedrez/b, Sean Dobbins-Jesse Kramer/dr, Pepe Espinosa/pec, Terry Kimura/tb, Cliff Monear/p and Michael Malis/key mixing and matching original tunes composed by Mark Lipson, Kenn Cox and Brad Felt.
The music is consistent in its swing and energy, giving hints of influences by Blue Note bands like the Jazz Messengers and Horace Silver’s small groups. The album is bookended by a pair of waltzing boppers, with Bishop digging deep on “The Master” and Kramer leading the charge on “Spinning.” Espinosa adds extra salsa to the percolating “PJ Lids” over Malis’ keyboards and alongside Kimura’s trombone on the nifty “Curenavaca” and scintillating “Tony’s Trip.” Some soulful strutting takes place with Adams’ horn on “Existentialism” with Statin giving some vintage Coltrane searing tones, while the team mellows out to Dobbins’ brushes and Pedraz’s bowed bass on the sublime “Samba de Romance”. Would love to see these gents tour around. Toe tapping treasures.