Dan Kaufman plays the piano and Hammond B3 as he leads a band of Johnathan Blake/dr, Matt Clohesy/b, Gilad Hekselman/g, Sam Sadigursky/sax and Keita Ogawa/perc through eight accessible post bop originals. Kaufman’s got a gently trickling touch on the piano, gently pulsing forward with the rhythm team with Sadigursky’s soprano sax on “Windshadow” as well as teaming with teaming with Blake’s tumbling drum on the earthy “Kuumba.” He has a touch of Bill Evans on the ballad “Falling Petals” with Sadigursky’s tenor, while on B3 he gets honky tonkin’ with Blake and Clohesy on “Crosscheck.” The team shows its sharp elbows on the rocky and angular “Farmington” which lets Hekselman plug in with an edge. Fresh sounds with a touch of tradition.
Red Piano Records