Rick Germanson Quartet Live at Smalls

Among the latest batch of recordings of Live at Smalls on the Smalls Live label is one by the Rick Germanson Quartet. Pianist Germanson was joined that night by the trumpet of Dr. Eddie Henderson, the bass of Paul Gill and the drums of Lewis Nash. Germanson, best know for his association with Louis Hayes (especially the Cannonball Legacy Band), displays the influence of McCoy Tyner among others in his energetic playing.

On this date, backed by an excellent rhythm section, and benefiting from Henderson’s bright playing (in a Freddie Hubbard vein), he leads off with a driving interpretation of Bobby Timmons’ So Tired. Henderson employs a mute for a fresh and imaginative take on Surrey With A Fringe On Top, lending more of a Miles Davis’ tone here although the performances allude to the melody and chord structure of Surrey with little direct rephrasing or embellishment of the familiar melody.

Shorter’s Waltz is a Germanson original evocative of some of Shorter’s compositions with some strong work by Gill and Nash providing the base supporting more fine playing Henderson and Germanson. Playing solo, Germanson provides a lovely impressionistic rendering of Duke Ellington’s The Single Petal of a Rose, which is followed by another appealing ballad, Say It (Over & Over Gain), with Gill and Nash adding light, understated support.

A Germanson original, Edge brings Henderson back who plays in a fiery mode on this hard bop cooker. It closes another strong live recording of straight ahead hard bop from the Greenwich Village jazz club.

I purchased this. Here is Rick performing Bebop.

Jim Snidero's Excellent Interface

Alto Saxophonist Jim Snidero has a new release “Interface” on Savant. The Maryland native brings together a group from the Baltimore-Washington area for this date that include guitarist Paul Bollenback with whom Snidero played often in the 80’s at the fabled DC club One Step Down. In addition to Bollenback, Snidero is joined by bassist Paul Gill and drummer McLenty Hunter. He has a pretty substantial body of recordings, and this is the second one in which he has employed a guitar as opposed to piano. In fact on half of the eight selections, Bollenback utilizes and acoustic guitar.

All eight compositions are Snidero’s originals opening with the title track, an original with a brisk tempo that displays the Snidero’s vocalized tone which is complimented by Bollenback’s chords and single note runs. Silhouette has a more contemplative flavor with softer attack employed by Snidero complimented by Bollenback’s adroit acoustic guitar. The playing is more extroverted on Fall Out, that suggests Jack DeJohnette’s Special Edition recordings. Bollenback’s chords and runs on this evokes John Abercombie.

Bollenback’s unaccompanied acoustic guitar intro sets the tone for the folkish One By One with Snidero’s alto lending to a bluesy feel with Hunter’s cymbal work adding subtle accents here. More acoustic guitar is present to compliment Snidero’s lead on a Bossa Nova, Apertivo, while the ensuing Viper ratchets up the energy level with Snidero’s a cappella intro has a middle east mood to it before stating the five-note theme over a vamp stated by Gill and Bollenback, with Gill taking a solo prior to some blistering playing from the leader, followed by a memorable acoustic guitar solo by Bollenback. After The Pain is a lovely performance of a blue ballad that Snidero composed shortly after his mother’s death and the tastefulness of Bollenback’s accompaniment who contributes his own thoughtful solo that maintains the mood.

Interface is an excellent recording that has intriguing compositions, and strong ensemble playing supporting the inventive and passionate playing by Snidero and Bollenback. It is a release that will have me seeking out more from these players.

This review was written for Jazz & Blues Report who provided me with the review copy.