Ray Drummond

The huge bass sound of veteran jazzman Drummond is heard to full effect on this, his eighth CD as a leader, and his first with a quartet. His burly, brawny basslines are up front in the mix, and his longtime rhythm mate Billy Hart continues on his righteously swinging path. Craig Handy uses tenor and soprano saxophones to varying degrees of subtlety and exuberance, while the pianist Stephen Scott is just as crucial as Drummond in the scheme of this recording. His deft chordal punctuations, great interpretive skills, and wonderful solo additions make him a welcome accompanist on any session. "Driftin'" is a one-note soprano sax-led melody that patiently turns into a waterfall of melodicism. "What Is Happening Here?" is an easy swinger with Handy's Joe Henderson-informed tenor. "Kinda Like" recalls an Ornette Coleman or Odean Pope rambling tenor-bass-drums trio. "Oh Jay" is the hard bopper, an outstanding display of Handy and Hart's talents, the former evoking aural images of the late saxophonist Emanuel Boyd (whom the CD is dedicated to) and the latter on one of his unmistakably original drum solos. "Ballade Poetique" is a somber-free piece, with Handy's tenor peeking in and out of shadows. Another Shorter original, "Ana Maria," pays tribute to the wife he lost in a New Jersey shore plane crash; it's a soprano-led homage with slight samba beat and loose, searching, darker harmonics. Drummond's lead melody on "Willow Weep for Me" suggests a stronger reserve after losing a loved one, and his exchanges with Hart throughout "Mr P.C." shows a flexibility and innate sense of hearing and responding that is fun and sometimes funny. Drummond also waxes poetic with Scott on Ron Carter's "Little Waltz," and the whole band digs into a bluesy slow swing take of the traditional "Goin" Home," with modal piano setting up Handy's fervent Rahsaan Roland Kirk-like solo, the album's highlight. Drummond's made yet another very fine recording -- what a great treasure jazz has in this bassist, composer and bandleader. Easily recommended to all lovers of the modern mainstream and jazz in general. ~ Michael G. Nastos, All Music Guide