You might think that tenor saxist Richard Elliott grew up wanting to be soul vocalist Teddy Pendergrass, because the way his horn sings out the lyrical solos on this album, it sounds like Teddy on tenor! Elliot’s got a rich bold and molasses flavored sax, and he mixes and matches it with the likes Shane Theriot/keys-b-dr-g, Jeffey Smith/g-key-dr, Lew Lang/key0dr, Paul Brown/g-perc an Roberto Vally/b on this irresistible session.
A big sax section sound drives around a reggae pulse for the leader’s declaration on “Very Delicious” before he cozies up to the back beat on the melodious funk of “Driftin” and gets into an ooze of tone on the hip hopping “Double Time”. Elliot and guitarist Theriot veer around the relentless groove of “Freestyle” with Paul Brown giving a tasty treat on his strings with Elliot’s macho muscles on the rivulet of “High Tide”. Someone needs to put lyrics to Elliot’s solos, as these delivers are completely logical, but not predictable. Elliot plays a song worth singing.