Combining some of the area’s brightest jazz stars in a collection which
stretches and ocassionally leans outside the realms of jazz (often to great
result), Boston World Jazz Project features drummer Dan Vigden and a
rotating roll of his musical friends. Opening with the brass-splashed title
track, the album soon finds Vigden smacking away on Dizzy Gillespie’s
"Woody and You." Kicking in with a booming piano intro, Johnny Mercer’s
"Autumn Leaves" falls into instant recognition as soon as Wayne
Escoffery’s sax hits the groove.
Wayne Shorter’s "Fe-Fi_Fo-Fum" is a down tempo club piece which is
not as giant a step as its name might imply, but BWJP’s take on Cole
Porter’s "What Is This Thing Called Love" is a red hot and Latin burner
with fiery sax flights and hot-handed piano courtesy of Alon Yavnai.
Swinging through Billy Strayhorn’s "Upper Manhattan Medical Group," the
band rises into a not-so-soft "Softly, As In A Morning Sunrise," peppered
by Vigden’s cymbal-heavy percussive thunder. After a flipper-y take on "On
Green Dolphin Street," the Project finds its project with the Vigden-penned
groover "T. Funk," featuring Scott Aruda’s ever-sharp trumpet and Bruce
Bears’s rhtyhm-hittin’ B-3.
Despite the apparent avaialbility of horn-y men like Aruda, a
fully-swung swing through the Davis/Evans collaboration "Nardis"
features saxes in place of Miles’s golden horn. Whenthe funk bug returns
for "The Funky Bee," down n’ dirty sax man Gordon Beadle joins Vigden
as the driving force drummer shows his tru colors again. Flipping
completely to the B-side, the album closes with the Muzak-y "If I Keep My
Heart Out Of Sight." Though it may be a bit of a downturn after the
Maceo-era drive of "Bee," Kerry Connor’s guitar washes and Bob Finnie’s
vocalese keys make this James Taylor cover a pleasant smooth jazz
closer.
Style: Contemporary/Smooth
Published: January 21, 2003
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