Mintzer’s super supple soloing on JoeHen’s ‘Recorda Me’ is one big highlight.
Another is the brilliant bass playing of Mike Gurrola (no me, neither) on ‘Wanna Bounce’. That tune like the majority of pieces here was written by LA drummer Marcello Carelli. He’s a laidback player who plays in a meaty Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts vein and steers a steady ship while not being at all afraid to plough his way intrepidly through choppier turbulence. Carelli comes alive on the boogaloo of ‘Play It Cool’ that again has plenty of mint Mintzer.
This is the sort of album the much missed Linley Hamilton Jazz World radio show stupidly axed by the BBC would play. Carelli writes good tunes but really it’s the positivity and brightness of this acoustic jazz that appeals even more. He swings a whole load and on ‘Noodles and Potatoes’ he is entirely convincing. The drummer says that piece was originally a big band chart. He wrote it for Bob Mintzer’s graduate composition class. The album was recorded at a studio called Tritone in Glendale, California over a couple of days of early February last year. It’s far better than a lot of Cellar Music’s decent but uninspiring recent output. Things are looking up.
MORE FROM MARLBANK