Mike Longo Trio +2: To My Surprise (2012)

Jack Bowers

Senior Contributor since 1997

A former newspaper writer / editor who has been writing about big-band Jazz for more than fifteen years.

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Published: March 6, 2012

When is a trio not a trio? Well, when it's the Mike Longo Mike Longo
b.1939
piano Trio +2, which actually makes it a quintet. Such is the case on six of the dozen tracks on Longo's new CD, To My Surprise, which showcases not only the versatile pianist's core group (bassist Bob Cranshaw Bob Cranshaw
b.1932
bass and drummer Lewis Nash Lewis Nash
b.1958
drums ), but also the impressive talents of trumpeter Jimmy Owens Jimmy Owens
b.1943
trumpet and tenor saxophonist Lance Bryant Lance Bryant
b.1961
sax, tenor .

What is apparent from the outset is that everyone is having a grand time. Even though clearly well-rehearsed (and well-recorded), the session has an engaging looseness about it, epitomizing the way it must be when good friends (which these gentlemen certainly are) get together to jam in someone's living room, den or garage. Longo, who passed every test a sideman can bear during his twenty-five years with the legendary trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie Dizzy Gillespie
1917 - 1993
trumpet , eases snugly into any groove, as do the members of his working group, Cranshaw and Nash. Longo plays with warmth and discipline, always aware of where he has been and where he intends to go. His solos are well-constructed, his comping tasteful and responsive. As for Owens and Bryant, they are more than window-dressing, adding weight to the trio while delivering a number of bright and earnest solos (especially on the fast-paced opener, "A Picture of Dorian Mode").

Longo, who composed five of the numbers on this release, writes well. Even so, it is the standards—all performed by the trio—whose familiar melodies (all of which have stood the test of time) remind us of an era when writing popular songs was an art form second to none. Longo plays each one superbly, starting with Ray Noble Ray Noble
1903 - 1978
composer/conductor 's "The Very Thought of You" and continuing with "Old Devil Moon," "You've Changed" and "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning." The album opens with three of Longo's original compositions, "Dorian Mode," "Still Water" and "New Muse Blues," all ably performed by the quintet. Completing the program are Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter
b.1933
saxophone 's "Limbo," Owens' "Magic Bluze," Herbie Hancock Herbie Hancock
b.1940
piano 's turbulent "Eye of the Hurricane" and Longo's "Alone Again" and "To My Surprise." The quintet is present and accounted for on "Magic Bluze," "To My Surprise" and "Alone Again."

Trio or quintet, To My Surprise is contemporary small-group jazz the way it is meant to be played, with enthusiasm and awareness by musicians who know the game plan and follow it to the letter, all the while leaving ample room for inspiration and, yes, surprise.

Track Listing: A Picture of Dorian Mode; Still Water; New Muse Blues; Limbo; Alone Again; I Hadn't Anyone 'Til You; Old Devil Moon; Magic Bluze; To My Surprise; You've Changed; Eye of the Hurricane; In the Wee Small Hours.

Personnel: Mike Longo: piano; Bob Cranshaw: bass; Lewis Nash: drums; Jimmy Owens: trumpet, flugelhorn; Lance Bryant: tenor saxophone.

Record Label: Consolidated Artists Productions