Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Carol Morgan Quartet, Blue Glass Music


Trumpetismo Carol Morgan returns with a nicely put-together quartet on her Blue Glass Music (Blue Bamboo Music 019) in a program of songbook and jazz standards and a couple of originals by band members. It's thoughtfully straight-ahead jazz in a contemporary bopping-the-changes mode. Drummer of note Matt Wilson grounds the music with his tasteful swing, Martin Wind wields the bass in appropriate ways, tenorist Joel Frahm plays an eclectic and limber tenor, and Carol Morgan shows her debt to the cool-heat of past masters while sounding ever more confident in her own right.

This has good blowing frameworks and the emphasis on the trumpet-tenor solo spots, with some nice interplay between the two as well. They cover some well worn paths, from "April in Paris" to Ornette's "Lonely Woman," but they do so with the special fingerprint of players with their own take on where to take it all.

Ms. Morgan has poise and fluency. She is sounding better than ever here. Nice job.

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