Introducing Philadelphia pianist Jordan Williams here with drum icon Jeff “Tain” Watts, bassist Nat Reeves (known for his work with Jackie McLean) excellent on his own tune ‘Waltz For Ellis’ and trumpeter Wallace Roney Jr who plays beautifully on Horace Silver classic ‘Peace’. It’s apparently Williams’ first album as a bandleader and it’s a buoyant beginning. He plays in a Mulgrew Miller type style – so his approach sits well with Julian Joseph – and has a sensitive touch you can hear on his accompaniment to ‘Peace’. The album opens with a loose treatment of Herbie Hancock standard ‘One Finger Snap’. But it’s not the best track and the album gets better later.
Among the less obvious choices of material there’s a welcome if less thunderous version of Buster Williams’ ‘Tayamisha’ which goes back to a 1970s album called Pinnacle. Another interesting choice is a piece by Kenny Garrett called ‘Ms Baja’ which was on the alto sax icon’s 1997 classic, Songbook. A shrewd choice given the strong interest still in Mal Waldron is the inclusion of the Billie Holiday pianist’s ‘Left Alone’. It’s not an amazing album by any means but the portents are good.
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