Uptown!

TOWNER GALAHER: Uptown!
Rhythm Royale, 2012

STRAIGHTAHEAD JAZZ – Galaher is a hard-hitting drummer with a strong sense of swing. This unusual quintet has Hammond B3 organ burner Pat Bianchi and three top horn players (Donald Harrison, Craig Handy, Brian Lynch). By focusing on horns and leaving out guitar, the results are a bit more bop than soul-oriented, but still have plenty of the bluesy grease one expects from organ combos. Good stuff!

All pretty good! Fo’s Picks: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11

1. 7:01 – midtempo, swinging postbop: saxes sing & wail, rolling drum solo
2. 7:38 – nice blues-march take on a sneaky Wayne Shorter tune
3. 5:19 – perky melody & Brazilian beat: solos glide and swoop
4. 4:33 – cool soul strut with a jerky, staccato beat
5. 6:01 – more W. Shorter: slow and dreamy, delicious harmony, cool solos
6. 6:43 – relaxed stomp: a lot of blues in it, but balanced by angular solos
7. 7:06 – good rolling rhythm: trumpet & saxes just glide on top
8. 7:20 – cool latin-tinged tick-tock beat gives this a sense of suspense
9. 5:57 – upbeat but easygoing blues shuffle: a straight-up groove
10. 6:48 – laid-back McCoy Tyner blues-with-a-twist, hidden Coltrane quote
11. 7:15 – brisk boppin’ with twisty horn solos over a low, steady groove

[ Fo ] - 3 September 2012