Wednesday, February 14, 2018

The Jeff Hamilton Trio "Live From San Pedro"

When a new Jeff Hamilton Trio album comes along we know for sure what we're gonna get. Unrelenting swing, the highest caliber of musicianship, real deal jazz from note one, and a guarantee that we'll be happier and musically fulfilled after note last. Jeff has pulled off this miraculous task with every pianist he's ever worked with from Gene Harris to Monty Alexander to Larry Fuller and now to the phenomenal, Oscar influenced, Tamir Hendelman. Hamilton's bassist, Christoph Luty, brings a Ray Brown-like enormous and rich sound to the proceedings. And then there's Jeff, the peerless drummer who toils in the spirit of his hero, Shelly Manne. On this beautifully conceived set, Jeff, Tamir and Christoph cover all the bases. In the groove department there's the opener, "Sybille's Day" a tour de force written by Jeff for the wife of a personal friend. Or how about Monk's "In Walked Bud", which starts rather sedately; then Tamir turns up the heat and, well, hello Bud! Two John Clayton pieces follow: John wrote the soulful back beat feature "Gina's Groove" for his daughter, and "Brush This" is John's ode to his great friend Jeff. Without a doubt the surprise of the set was "Gary, Indiana" which many of you will remember from Meredith Wilson's The Music Man. The trick here is that "Gary, Indiana 2018" comes to us wrapped in joyful Latin attire. On all these and more, the Jeff Hamilton Trio has struck gold again. But then, don't they always?
Capri; 2018; appx. 59 min.

No comments:

Post a Comment