Upper West Side Story

Long a sideman (with Sonny Rollins, e.g.) and also leader of his own trio, Bobby Broom plays contemporary (not leading edge) hollow-body jazz guitar. This is his first album with all his own compositions. He shows a lot of stylistic and technical variety here, but the music is mostly lightweight and easy to listen to. The ensemble is guitar, bass & drums.

All instrumental. No FCC issues.

1 Mid-fast. Opening drum roll, bass riff, and melodic theme on guitar are encouraging. But this descends into guitar improv that gets rather long and somewhat aimless. (6:51)
2 * Mid-tempo lead, but fast rhythm. Breezy G Benson style. Tight combo playing. (4:54)
3 Mid-slow. Very mellow, pointless background music. (8:46)
4 Mid-tempo. Alternating a little bluesy riff and quick scampering improv lines. (6:57)
5 Mid-tempo. Easy, lazy stroll. Improv lead guitar with light accompaniment. It’s very loose, almost like they’ve never met each other. (6:24)
6 ** Fast. Jazziest, swingin’est tune here. Impressive guitar; strong bass & drums. (3:25)
7 * Mid-slow. Pretty ballad. Nice guitar & bass, minimal drums - mostly high-hat (7:42)
8 * Fast but mellow. Cute little melodic riff played ‘round & ‘round. Good drums. (6:12)
9 Slow. Sticks out as quite different. Sort of dreamy (maybe 1/2 *) (8:42)