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"Nick's Picks"
by Nick Bewsey
ICON Magazine - January 2011
Bassist Luther Hughes (Gene Harris) leads a game quintet
on a well-programmed set of original and impressionistic tunes inspired by
Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane, as well as pianist McCoy Tyner and
Wayne Shorter. This tribute recording zeroes in on the 1959 timeframe just
prior to the time when the saxophonists cemented their legacy as jazz icons.
Hughes and his joyfully swinging crew share an affinity for funky Brazilian-tinged
tunes (“Green Bananas,” “Sunset at Hermosa”) loose-limbed
originals and finger-poppin’ tunes like Ellington’s “Take
the Coltrane.” But they pull out the stops for their perceptive arrangement
of Nat Adderley’s “Jive Samba” and also
“Softly as the Morning Sunrise,” a pair of tour-de-force workouts
that are a feast for the ears. (12 tracks; 74:08 minutes) |