Drummer and leader Jerome Jennings delivers a vibrant album that hearkens to the hard bop days of Art Blakey, yet with a modern touch. He brings together a sharp team of Sean Jones/tp-fh, Howard Wiley/ts, Dion Tucker/tb, Christian Sands/p and Christian McBride/b for a workshop on driving tunes as the leader drumrolls through the thick horns on the shuffling “Love the Drums” and lays down a gospel groove with cute accompanying child sounds on ‘Ice Cream Dreams.” Wiley’s tenor is thick as a brick on the peppy and hep read of Ben Webster’s “Did You Call Her Today” and Jones flexes his muscles on the modal drive of Freddie Hubbard’s “The Core”. The team blows smoke rings for Jazzmeia Horn’s luscious vocals on “You Don’t Know What Love Its” and Jennings’ pen is mighty on all of his writings, particularly the subdued title track.
He gives some political statements via hash tags and liner notes that don’t add nor detract from the music itself. As a rule, I tend to regard statements on race as missing the mark of most problems, as the cause is more sin than skin.