NEW MUSIC: BENNY GOLSON – HORIZON AHEAD; PRESSURE 75 – MELTDOWN; GOGO PENGUIN – FANFARES

BENNY GOLSON – HORIZON AHEAD

Rock-solid work from the legendary Benny Golson – part of an amazing run of late-life sessions that have had us falling in love with his talents all over again! The set's got a very firm core – piano from Mike LeDonne, bass from Buster Williams, and drums from Carl Allen – players who have all the sense of confidence, complication, and swing to match Golson's rich work on tenor – that raspy tone and careful way of phrasing that we always loved, even at the start, but which has emerged to make Benny a player who's touched whole new generations in recent years. Tracks include the original titles "Jump Start", "Horizon Ahead", "Domingo", and "Night Shade" – and the set also features Carl Allen's "Out Of The Darkness & Into The Light", which has a compelling spoken introduction too.  ~ Dusty Groove

PRESSURE 75 – MELTDOWN

Heavy funk, with some 70s Afro touches too – served up with some help from the Mighty Mocambos, Spike Orchestra, The Snitch, and other deep funk combos too! The horns here are nice and heavy, but used in a way that's different from both familiar Afro Funk and Ethio-styled work too – more open-ended, and with some great jazzy solos at all the right moments – taking the place of any vocals, and really giving the songs a fresh sort of energy! Rhythms are very heavy at the bottom – standard drums mixed with congas, bongos, and other percussion – and the basslines sew things together, but keep things nice and loose, too – so that the individual musicians get a chance to step out strongly on their own. Titles include "Meltdown", "Red Sea", "Kurzzug", "Plan Of Attack", "Binturong", "Ajebutter", and "Standing On The Shoulders Of Giantslayers".  ~ Dusty Groove

GOGO PENGUIN – FANFARES

The title's a great one for this indie album from Gogo Penguin – because the music's got a sense of fanfare and majesty right from the start – a cascading blend of piano, bass, and drums – but in a way that's quite different than a standard jazz trio! Gogo Penguin are a group who are bursting out elsewhere on Blue Note, but are equally at home on the UK spiritual jazz label Gondwana – where they seem to get the chance to stretch out a bit more, and even show some slight outside tendencies in their music. All titles are originals by the group – and tracks include "Seven Sons Of Bjorn", "Last Words", "Unconditional", "I Am That", "Akasthesia", "HF", and "Fanfares".  ~ Dusty Groove