Here’s a label I just discovered, a Midwest outfit called Eastlawn Records, specializing in bluesy and classic sounding jazz. You know, the type you can tap your foot into and not get lost in the navel gazing solos. You’ll like these guys-here are two recent releases.
Bandleader and drummer RJ Spangler leads a small-big band through the songs associated by the overlooked jumping blues giant Woodrow Wilson “Buddy” Johnson, who had a slew of R&Bish hits in the 40s and 50s, most notably “Since I Fell For You”. This album is a recording of a gig at Detroit’s Scarab Club, and the joint was jumpin’! Tromboniest Tbone Paxton is Nat Cole warm on the hep cat of “Pretty Girl a Cadillac and Some Money” and a hoot on both “It’s Bodacious” and “Crazy Bout A Saxophone”. Camille Price wails on “Since…” and shows moxie on ”I’m Just Your Fool”. The band swings like Basie on “Dr. Jive Jives” boogies to the handclapping “Lil Dog” the saxes sear through “Jit Jit”. This is the kind of music that makes you love jazz-remember when you used to smile to a song?
Peck Allmond plays a beefy and smoky tenor sax as well as bopping trumpet as he leads his band of Ed Kelly/p, John Wiitala/b and Bud Spangler/dr through a gig recorded back during the Clinton years. Fellow tenorite Kenny Brooks joins the fray for a wild and dramatically modal “Softly As In A Morning Sunrise” as Spangler taps into his inner Elvin Jones. Allmond’s trumpet mixes with his Ben Webster’d smoke rings on a hovering “I’m Confessin’ That I Love You” and solos it out around Kelly’s rolling ivories on “Blues By Five”. The pianist gets a couple arias as on the reflective “All Blues” and lovely impressionistic take of “Moment’s Notice” and in a band setting stretches out with Allmond on the warm embers of “Tenor Madness” as the leader gives a gorgeously cirrus cloud intro to “Invitation. This band earned their keep this night out.
John “Tbone” Paxton plays trombone and coleads with conga/percusisionist RJ Spangler with a free and fancy team of Dan Bennett/ts-as, Kasan Belgrave/as-fl, John Douglas/tp, Phillip J. Hale/p, Damon Warmack/eb, Kurt Krahnke/ab and Sean Perlumutter/dr along with guests Salim Washington/ts-ob-fl and Alex Harding/bs. The album is bookended by a pair of street sounding and free blowing pieces. Paxton is earthy with the saxes and Hale on “Ithemba” and splats out the sounds on a soulful “Part of a Whole” with rich keyboards. Washington’s oboe is dreamy before things get wild and frisky on ‘Water No Get Enemy” and the team has fun on the calypso’d boogaloo of “Pata Pata”. Taking it to the streets.