Steve Haines Quintet with Jimmy Cobb: Stickadiboom (2009)

Edward Blanco

CD/DVD Reviewer since 2005

Ed has been a jazz fan for 35 years and hosts a jazz radio program at WDNA 88.9 FM.

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Published: April 13, 2009

Steve Haines Quintet with Jimmy Cobb: Stickadiboom

Jazz bassist Steve Haines presents his Zoho debut and second release as leader with Stickadiboom (a drummer's term describing the sound of jazz drums), drawing on a collaboration with legendary drummer Jimmy Cobb to help him interpret the music. Haines, who directs the Miles Davis Program in Jazz Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, successfully crafts a dynamite session of New York style straight-ahead hard-bop jazz with his New York-based quintet.

Drummer Cobb contributes one chart and performs on the majority of the pieces while regular band member Thomas Taylor subs on two tracks. Rob Smith plays trumpet and soprano saxophone, David Lown does the work on tenor while pianist Chip Crawford rounds out the quintet. "The Freightrain" opens up the music with sharp loud bursts from the Smith/Lown reed section proceeding to trade salvos on the most boisterous hard-bop piece of music on the recording. The title track, essentially a boogaloo, features the duo once again but this time highlights the leader and introduces Cobb in pounding fashion.

On "Rendezvous," Haines attempted to pen a delicate tango after a session he encountered at an Argentinian Dance Society event, but what results is actually a soft, delicate ballad featuring Smith on trumpet and soprano, with splashing cymbal accents from Cobb. Haines picks up the beat on the bouncy "Sutak 9-1-1," where he delivers strong steady bass lines and returns to the softer side on "Patience," a slow and deliberate ballad, written with Lown's soft tenor delivery and Cobb's gentle brushwork in mind. In tribute to New York's Brooklyn area park, the Haines composition "Prospect Park" provides a perky melody that includes another fine bass solo.

Although the music is not strictly percussive in nature, Stickadiboom is decidedly a drummer's album, and Cobb's participation enhances what is already a very fine recording. Haines caps off the set with Cobb's brief "Composition 101," featuring Crawford's piano chops, the leader again—and, of course, Cobb's immaculate drum work echoing and affirming the meaning of the album's title: "the sound of jazz drums."

Track Listing: The Freightrain; Stickadiboom; Rendezvous; Sutak 9-1-1; Patience; Prospect Park; Re-Frayne; Composition 101.

Personnel: Steve Haines: bass; Jimmy Cobb: drums(2-6, 8); Rob Smith: trumpet, soprano saxophone; David Lown: tenor saxophone; Chip Crawford: piano; Thomas Taylor: drums (1, 7).

Record Label: Zoho Music
Style: Straight-ahead/Mainstream