Saturday, February 19, 2011

Jimmy Heath 2011-0211 Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival-2189455

Jimmy Heath with Whit Williams Quintet (Whit on baritone and sonTommy on Trumpet. Closing act on Friday night at the Mid_Atlantic Jazz Festival. Heath, one of the greats of the post-war jazz scene performed several of his compositions including "Went to Sleeves" based on "Autumn Leaves," and then "Moody's Groove" that he wrote fro his friend, the late James Moody, which included reading the words he wrote for it and which Roberta Gambarini sang on a recording by the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni Band.

Others in this set included "God Bless the Child" with just Heath and the rhythm quartet, Blue MItchell's calypso "Funky Mama" before a nice relaxed groove for "Green Dolphin Street," with a short "On the Trail" to take the show off. The White Williams Quintet is a terrific band and I do not know if Lenny Robinson is a regular member but his tasteful playing helped drive this along along with bassist Jeff Harper and pianist Dale (?) Murphy.

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