Dylan Canterbury: Going Places

Let's just set the record straight from the get-go. Going Places is, hands down and thumbs up, a rousing, full throated, old-school set of rowdy, tightly spun compositions played by some of the best players the Hudson Valley region of New York has to offer. And that promises (and delivers) a sweet, sweet listen because the Hudson Valley is home to lot of great players, both the latest and of legend.

Citing Jon Faddis as a guiding light (Faddis's own idol of course was Dizzy Gillespie), jazz's new and old informs Going Places, trumpeter/flugelhornist Dylan Canterbury's crowdfunded debut. A sparkling throwback with an intuitive frontline make-up of trumpet, vibraphone and saxophone that keeps you high on your toes, Canterbury emboldens saxophonist Brian Patneaude, vibraphonist Matt Hoffmann, pianist Rob Lindquist, bassist Mario Pietra and drummer Jerad Lippi to have at his ten bad-ass and brassy compositions. Joyfully, for all concerned, they willfully do.

The title track, with Patneaude putting his tenor aside for a dance and spar on soprano, scores as the first very high highlight. The track rings with a bright, infectious energy that emanates and grows throughout the entire disc. "Bickering" is another active nova with Pietra and Hoffman giving the chattering horn players a good run for their collective money. Lindquist and Hoffman take dual control of "Spin" as Hoffman's keyboard work sets a rollicking tone. The ever shifting time signatures that power "Circumstantial Evidence" make for an engaging ten minute listen. Canterbury, who serves as the jazz ensemble director at SUNY Schenectady and has published over twenty transcriptions for ejazzlines, pulls no punches, landing them all hard and spot on with Going Places. It's a first time out anyone would be proud to claim as their own.

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