Groder & Greene

Acoustic free jazz fronted by trumpet, sax, and piano, with plenty of accessible touches. Bright moods, mostly. Track 1 has a particularly organized feel, and track 6 gets a nice drum groove going. For something more abstract, try 3,4,7.

Burton Greene (piano)
Brian Groder (trumpet/flugelhorn)
Rob Brown (alto sax)
Adam Lane (bass)
Ray Sage (drums)

1- Coolly soulful. Crisp trumpet lead with nice late-night piano joining in. Things break apart a bit later, with sax and piano getting into a mid/fast, disjoint free-jazz rumble. Then, like curtains parting, it opens back into simple piano and trumpet, back to the lonely late-night feel.

2- Bright, midtempo sax and drums; creeping piano. A "slow" feel with fast, propulsive drums. Expansive.

3- Slow piano start, like cracking ice. Sax and muted trumpet move carefully. Eventually blossoms into a bustling, disjoint piece. Loosens up considerably for a bass solo.

4- Abstract. Groaning bass; prepared piano that sounds like rubber bands.

5- Spacious but gets moving, with a brisk trumpet and piano duet. Fairly accessible once it gets going.

6- Nice drum groove under some blaring horn statements. At once funky and free. Slower middle, fast-paced ending.

7- Goofing around. Lots of growly vocal sounds followed by a staggered composition. Some spoken phrases later during a heavy-handed, start/stop piano segment.

8- Jazzy. Brisk muted trumpet; later a more midtempo, sinewy sax solo.

9- Darkly midtempo, a quiet, mildly menacing overhang. The "Sleepwalker" title is a nice image.