Leader and arranger Bill Warfield plays piano and trumpet with an exuberant big band along with guests Gary Bartz/as-ss, Conrad Herwig/tb, Lou Marini/ts, Paul Shaffer/org, Eugene Albulescu/p and Jasia Ries/voc.
Bartz is a great pick for this session, with his soprano sax searing through Woody Shaw’s hefty “Rosewood” while his algo glows on “Beneath The Stacks/Currents”. Ries coos through the moody “Baltimore Oriole” and saunters around Warfield’s muted trumpet on “Currents”. Albulescu’s piano is quite Lisztian on the thoughtful “Beneath The Stacks” while the band lives up to his name with bari saxist Kurt Bacher belting out “Cissy Strut”, with Bartz and Warfield strutting their stuff on “The Message”. Rising tides.