London, England-born saxophonist Wayne Escoffery's fifth album is a soulful, groove-heavy outing that positions him firmly within the tradition of hard bop blowing but also makes a case for him as a better-than-decent composer.
There's a Wayne Shorter-esque feel to melodies like the opening "No Desert" and the questing "Maya's Waltz," while the minute-long organ interlude, "Road from Eilat" and the track it leads into, "Gulf of Aqaba," add a psychedelic, spiritual edge reminiscent of Larry Young's mid-'60s Blue Note albums.
At the same time, the smooth funk of "Nu Soul" and his swinging take on Duke Ellington's "I Got It Bad" (driven by powerful drumming from Jason Brown) are aimed straight at what remains of jazz radio.
Indeed, all the players in this small group deliver, organist Gary Versace and guitarist Avi Rothbard taking solos that serve the group sound without hijacking the tracks.
This is one of those albums that doesn't necessarily move jazz forward, but is nonetheless very pleasurable on its own modest merits.
And isn't that more than enough?.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | No DesertAvi Rothbard | Wayne Escoffery | Play | 05:33 | 12 MB | 41 MB |
| 2 | I Got It Bad | Wayne Escoffery | Play | 06:07 | 14 MB | 44 MB |
| 3 | Cross BronxAvi Rothbard | Wayne Escoffery | Play | 05:34 | 12 MB | 42 MB |
| 4 | You Know I Care | Wayne Escoffery | Play | 05:26 | 12 MB | 34 MB |
| 5 | Road from EilatWayne Escoffery, Gary Versace | Wayne Escoffery | Play | 01:04 | 2 MB | 4 MB |
| 6 | Gulf of AqabaWayne Escoffery | Wayne Escoffery | Play | 05:55 | 13 MB | 45 MB |
| 7 | Nu SoulWayne Escoffery | Wayne Escoffery | Play | 04:41 | 10 MB | 34 MB |
| 8 | Maya's WaltzAvi Rothbard | Wayne Escoffery | Play | 08:44 | 20 MB | 64 MB |
| 9 | Easy NowWayne Escoffery | Wayne Escoffery | Play | 02:14 | 5 MB | 14 MB |
| 45 mins | 103 MB | |||||
| 45 mins | 324 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Noah Baerman | Primary Artist |
| 2 | Jason Brown | Drums |
| 3 | Wayne Escoffery | Composer, Primary Artist, Saxophone |
| 4 | Marc Free | Producer |
| 5 | Nick O'Toole | Engineer |
| 6 | Avi Rothbard | Composer, Guitar |
| 7 | Barry Shapiro | Associate Producer |
| 8 | Gary Versace | Composer, Organ |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |