The THEK Jazz Quintet Plays the Music of Sam Jones

The THEK Jazz Quintet
Plays the Music of Sam Jones
TNEK Jazz LLC

Bassist Kent Miller leads a quintet drawn primarily from the Mid-Atlantic on a musical exploration of the music bassist-composer Sam Jones. The other members of the quintet are pianist Darius Scott, drummer Greg Holloway, saxophonist Benny Russell, and saxophonist Antonio Parker. Jones wrote six and the great Kenny Barron one, of the compositions on this album.

Several of the numbers will be familiar to many from the great Cannonball Adderly groups that Sam Jones was a member of. The disc opens with a driving rendition of "Unit 7," that producer Ron Kearns observes was Adderly's unofficial theme song. Kent anchors a terrific rhythm section while Parker (on alto sax) and Russell (on tenor and soprano sax) are strong blues-rooted soloists. This and other performances evoke those great Adderly bands. Drummer Holloway kicks off "Bittersuite" trading fours with Scott, before the horns and Miller dive in. There is plenty of swagger in Russell's brawny solo on this. Miller establishes the groove with his energetic bass riff on "Some More of Dat," and Miller' displays his considerable technique as thoughtful playing on his solo. Then there is a lovely ballad, "Lillie," that showcases Parker's ballad style. "i" is another steamy performance that may be familiar from Adderly's recordings and performances.

Kenny Barron's "Tragic Magic" closes this recording with Russell standing out on tenor sax. Kent Miller picked some worthy tunes and led an excellent band on an exceptional hard bop recording.

I received my review copy from a publicist. Here is a performance by The Kent Miller Quartet with everyone on this CD but Antonio Parker.