This is a burning set recorded live at one of New York's hottest jazz clubs, Smalls. The presence of the great Tom Harrell on trumpet and flugelhorn ratchets up the intensity, but the lesser-known quintet members -- Gerald Cannon on bass, Shingo Okudaira on drums, and the delightful Jonny King on piano -- turn in excellent performances as well. Tim Armacost's tenor sound is rich and his solos are steeped in classic post-bop vocabulary. He shines on the ballads "Whistling Away the Dark" and "You Don't Know What Love Is," ... Read More
This is a burning set recorded live at one of New York's hottest jazz clubs, Smalls. The presence of the great Tom Harrell on trumpet and flugelhorn ratchets up the intensity, but the lesser-known quintet members -- Gerald Cannon on bass, Shingo Okudaira on drums, and the delightful Jonny King on piano -- turn in excellent performances as well. Tim Armacost's tenor sound is rich and his solos are steeped in classic post-bop vocabulary. He shines on the ballads "Whistling Away the Dark" and "You Don't Know What Love Is," ably handles the faster tempos of Gary Bartz's "Libra" and Ornette Coleman's "Invisible," and plays a mean soprano sax on Hank Mobley's "Hank's Other Bag," a 14-bar blues. ~ David R. Adler, Rovi Read Less
