Not a patch on Pelt’s 2025 5-star album Woven, the tunes aren’t as strong and the whole thing feels more generic.
Trumpeter and composer Jeremy Pelt nevertheless is one of the great hard bop trumpeters out there and commands attention because of his sheer prowess and long track record of achievement.
But the sound in this context is a little too anachronistic – that’s ironic on an album that partly makes the point about neglect of jazz and community culture. The originals are OK. More positively I liked Buster Williams’ playing on ‘Fathers and Daughters’ as one highlight looking for positive things to say. Pelt is good at being tender and his soloing here fulfils that claim. The album could have done with at least a standard or two to put the originals in some sort of context.
Lenny White tends to get forgotten about as one of the great drummers in jazz and his role here quick and alert on ‘Sandman’ is another positive aspect of the album. The pianist is the ex Bad Plus pianist Orrin Evans who again on ‘Sandman’ is worth hearing particularly for his alert modulating and the way he subtly responds to White’s urgings.
Electronics don’t intervene too much. But the album comes over more like an acoustic one so I wonder why bother at all with these.