Label: Smoke Sessions Records, 2022
Personnel - Steve Davis: trombone; Peter Bernstein: guitar; Steve nelson: vibraphone; Jeoffrey Keezer: piano; Christian McBride: bass; Willie Jones III: drums.
American trombonist and composer Steve Davis is usually seen at the helm of proficient sextets whose blue-chip players confer a relevant dimension to his compositions. His fourth consecutive outing on the Smoke Sessions imprint is called Bluesthetic, an honest title that alludes to the harmonic progressions and foundational structures of the straight-ahead journeys he proposes. For this record, he decided to be the sole horn player, extending the harmonic possibilities by teaming up with monster jazz guitarist Peter Bernstein and vibraphonist Steve Nelson (both were in his 1998 album Vibe Up!), as well as the pianist Jeffrey Keezer. The bottom of the net is secured by the stupendous Christian McBride on bass and the efficient Willie Jones III on drums.
The opening number, “Encouragement”, is a churning Art Blakey-esque hard-bop piece with enough magnetism to draw you in. The players thrive by being on the same page, wisely opting for shorter solos here, which include everyone except the drummer. At places, however, especially during the second half, things get a little long in the tooth, improvisation-wise. Yet, the first portion brings a nimble strain of hard-bop-influenced and post-bop tunes that revives that immense joy we find in the jazz tradition.
“Silver at Sundown” is a tribute to pianist Horace Silver, being laid down with that jaunty feel and bohemian air that also characterizes Lee Morgan’s Sidewinder and Herbie Hancock’s Empyrean Isles. The soloists take their turns: Bernstein and Davis demonstrating clarity in the ideas; Nelson being highly articulated while navigating the chords he defines so well; and Keezer making things go inventively rhythmic. These four soloists also stretch on “Maybe So”, where McBride and Jones III join them by claiming their soloing spots. The drummer’s brushing technique is particularly attractive on the smooth jazz waltz “Faraway Dream”, which conjures up the modal atmospheres of Bobby Hutcherson, and the Ellingtonian ballad “Indigo to Azure”.
Both “Bedford Stroll”, inspired by the town and street where Davis currently lives in, and “They Wore 44”, whose blistering intensity was motivated by sports, boast a typical sound and drive that recalls J.J. Johnson and Paul Chambers. The former piece, marked by a synchronous snare strut on the B section, is another vehicle for the melodicists, whereas the latter’s main attraction is the unpredictable wallops thrown in by Keezer across different registers of the keyboard. The album ends with “Star for Chick”, a tribute to the late virtuosic pianist Chick Corea with whom Davis had been recording since 1998 in his post-bop-meets-fusion sextet Origin, and later in his Spanish Heart Band.
Favorite Tracks:
01 - Encouragement ► 02 - Silver at Sundown ► 05 - Faraway Dream