Best known for his work in Cyrus Chestnut’s trio, bassist Michael Hawkins steps out in front on his own as a leader of a band of locals from Richmond Virginia, called The Brotherhood. With them he debuts with a vengeance with a bold, bright and bodacious album, ranging from trio to quintet. Grab a seat and put on your seat belt!
In a trio setting with drummer Billy Williams Jr and pianist Dr. Weldon Hill he leads with confidence around the brushes with a deft and classy “My Little Cello”. For a quartet setting, he brings in the fiery alto sax of James Gates for an intense and muscularly modal “The March of the Ompa Lumpa” that rides like a white knuckler roller coaster under Hawkins’ sprinter’s pulse of a groove” . Switching gears, the foursome are classy and glassy with Hill’s piano on “Thankful” and goes from a luminous solo bass intro and lead on “Alone Together” to a bopping conclusion once Gates enters stage right. With Hill on soprano sax, the team gets jaunty on a Latin romancer “Martian Ghetto” and breezes along with Hawkins’ bass on a stylin’ “Conjecture”
For the quintet format, Rex Richardson brings in his polished trumpet and is deft around the leader’s digits on a lyrical “Grace” and works out his buccinators on a sublimely bopped blues on “E. Randolph Ave.”
Mixing inspirations from the vintage days of Blue Note to the Halcyon of Impulse!, Hawkins keeps in the tradition, but keeps it modern and fresh. When’s this guy bringing his bros to LA?