The Jazz Expressions

Four superb musicians with different jazz performing experiences have gotten together to form the Jazz Expressions. Hilliard (Bill) Greene, to whom the first track "Blues for Yard" is dedicated, is diminutive singer Jimmy Scott's musical director. Bruce Williams worked in the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, while Mike Kanan has been associated with Lennie Tristano's disciple Harvey Diamond. The group's drum seat is occupied by the very busy Victor Jones. The group's initial CD is a set of originals contributed by each member of the band, most all founded in bop. "Ichi Woda," the longest track on the album, is a vehicle for the alto sax wizardry of Williams who appears to have listened to a lot of Michael Brecker and Cannonball Adderley to develop his own sax style. Significant solo space has also been reserved for Kanan's piano on this track. In contrast to this mile-a-minute performance comes "The Arrival," written to commemorate the birth of composer Williams' son. Rather than being an upbeat, celebratory piece, its lingering measures express a sense of awe at the miracle of birth, an awe punctuated by Jones' drum rolls. The group works very hard, both as composers and performers, to make sure that there is sufficient variety in the music so as to avoid the trap of having each song sound alike, or close enough to it to fall into a creative rut. Songs such as "Anya's Intuition," which starts off with a lengthy Jones drum exploration, and "Iono" which features an opening arco bass by Greene, go a long way toward this objective. Nonetheless, it would have been nice if the group chose to include a few jazz standards on the play list to see what they would do with them. Recommended. ~ Dave Nathan, All Music Guide