Well, you may have heard in the news that there was a fire at The Baked Potato late Monday night. Contrary to rumor, the fire had nothing to do with the smoking hot set put aflame by saxist Kirsten Edkins and her band delivering material from her latest album Shapes and Sounds
Her cast of Ahmet Turkmenoglu/b, Lemar Guillary/tb, Chris Wabich/dr, Andrew Synowiec and Adam Bravo/keys was a tad different from the recording band, as Synwiec’s guitar added extra texture and style to pieces like the easy bopper “Wuhoo” where the tasty Grant Green’d solo volleyed with the keyboards while Guillay was bright and spry, serving as a perfect foil to the leader’s smoky toned tenor. Wabich created a latin pulse that simmered like fried rice with Turkmenoglu and Guillary sliding like Ricky Henderson into third base and Edkins blowing blue rings like she had a Romeo Y Juliet in the bell of the horn.
Switching to soprano. Edkins used her sweet soprano to navigate the peg leg gait set up by Wabich on the quirky “The Bug” while Guilllary’s solo sounded like he was stumbling down Bourbon Street. Up then popped from the audience Cat Conner who strolled down nostalgia lane with Guillary switching to tuba for a simpatico “Stars Fell On Alabama” and “Do You Know What It Means” that was as sweet as a mint julep.
Bravo then tapped into his inner Horace Silver for a bopping “Big B” as Edkins tenor gave echoes of the likes of Don Byas, with a rich tone and yet injected with advanced harmonics. The evening closed with Wabich rumbling out a funky “Sweet Pickles” that reflected the tone of both musicians and Ms. Edkins’ attitude, that a warm tone, both in sound and personal spirit, always wins over the heart.
Upcoming shows at The Baked Potato include Michael Landau 03/22-23, The Webb All Stars 03/27-28, Alphonso Johnson 03/29-30 and Teryn Re Big Band 03/01