A beautifully fragile set from pianist Masabumi Kikuchi – one that still has all the sharp edges we loved in his earlier work, but also a great sense of space – and a surprising undercurrent of soul! The set begins with a ballad – one that shows a slightly warmer side of Kikuchi's playing, but still quite modern and revolutionary – thanks to help from Thomas Morgan on bass and Paul Motian on drums – both of whom guide the proceedings beautifully as other tunes move on – helping Masabumi work in a style of jazz that's more a measured utterance of short statements within a single song – rather than a unified message. The approach is quite striking, and hangs in the air with a great sense of suspense – one that's rewarded with brief moments of cohesion and illumination – before things are off again in an expressive array of shapes and sounds. Titles include "Ballad 1", "New Day", "Short Stuff", "So What Variations", "Sticks & Cymbals", "Uptempo", and "Last Ballad".
A solid second album from the Soul Snatchers – a confident, soulful set and the Dutch funky soul collective – bettering their debut and delivering one of our favorite records on the Unique label! Like some of our other favorite contemporary combos, The Soul Snatchers snatch from a diverse goodie bag of influences, and they do it with modern freshness and style to spare. There's some unstoppable JBs styled heaters, groove-based organ soul, vocal tunes and instrumentals. They have a pair of great vocalists in Curtis T & Jimi Bellmartin and they do their thing with some uncommon instrumentation on top of the cooking horns, drums and rhythm – vibes and violin, for instance, plus some guest female backing vocals on several tunes. A winner! "Do You Wanna Get Down", "Who I Am", "Good To Me"., "The Right Track", "Finish What You Started", "Show Me Love", "The Lick", "The Chase", "Soul To Soul", "Good & Plenty" and more.
Two of the most soulful reedmen working today – blowing together beautifully in a great little set! Despite the combative title, there's a really warm, collaborative feel to the record right from the start – a setting that sparkles with all the deep tones we always love in Alexander's horn, and which seems to give Herring even more focus than usual – a sort of energy that we haven't heard in years on some of his other records! Tight rhythms are a good reason for the album's success – played by a trio that features Mike Ledonne on piano, John Webber on bass, and Carl Allen on drums – really setting fire to the reedmen, and letting them take off with long-stretching solos after some initial grooving on the heads of the tunes. Titles include "Timothy", "Inception", "Sukiyaki", "Pat N Chat", "Dig Dis", and "Here's That Rainy Day".
Dusty Groove
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