Bobby Broom And Bobby Watson: Tried And True

The conventions of traditional jazz can provide a refreshing simplicity. If proffered with sufficient panache and ingenuity, the music transcends its superficial stylistic principles and tenders what amounts to a reboot of the psyche. So it is with Bobby Broom's Keyed Up and Bobby Watson's Back Home In Kansas City; with both of these albums, the artists draw on their own history and by extension, that of jazz at large, using their cumulative knowledge and technical expertise to formulate long-players that remain true representations of the genre, reaffirming the veracity and durability of its accepted boundaries. The end result sounds invigorating, a simultaneous lesson in the truth of familiar practice(s) and the novelty of simple twists that generate newfound appreciation(s).

Bobby Broom
Keyed Up
Steele Records
2022

Set off in high relief by the prominent presence of the acoustic piano work of Justin Dillard, Broom's nimble fretboard work illuminates this lively near one-hour outing, further accentuating the highlights of compositions by or associated with great adherents of the ivories. The set begins with Bud Powell's "Hallucinations (aka Budo)" and continues in a similar vein with McCoy Tyner's "Blues On The Corner," Chick Corea's "Humpty Dumpty'' and Herbie Hancock's "Driftin.'" Through it all, none of the players sound at all intimidated, least of all Broom himself, so the interactions are hardly tentative between the guitarist frontman, the pianist and a rhythm section of bassist Dennis Carroll and drummer Kobie Watkins (co-producer here with the bandleader). On the contrary, as with "Second Thoughts," the quartet probes into the nuances of melody and rhythm with utter confidence, no little dignity and more than a mere dash of abandon, particularly when Dillard trots out an electronic instrument for, appropriately enough, the tune by the late founder of Return to Forever. Still, a soft touch prevails here, as elsewhere throughout the record, the tone set and maintained with quiet fortitude through the playing of Broom: the warm fluency with which he adorns "Soulful Bill," places this effort of the Harlem native's in close proximity to his longplayers with his Deep Blue Organ Trio.

Bobby Watson
Back Home In Kansas City
Smoke Sessions Records
2022

Honest homage to musical influences invariably precludes slavish devotion, proof positive of which premise permeates this joy-filled sextet date led by saxophonist Watson. As if the recording in a single day wasn't sufficient testament to the pervasive spontaneity of this sixty-five some minutes, the effortless transitions on the title track will convince: trumpeter Jeremy Pelt and pianist Cyrus Chestnut know the material as intimately as the other musician's styles of playing. Yet that very demonstration of camaraderie and chemistry is still no small accomplishment because, in the midst of a mix of originals mostly composed by the frontman, John Coltrane's spiritual "Dear Lord'' appears out of nowhere, almost as much as a seeming non-sequitur as the chestnut in the form of a Jimmy Dorsey co-write called "I'm Glad There Is You;" both inclusions spur the ensemble to stretch itself as it healthily exercises self-restraint in accompaniment of Carmen Lundy as she sings "Our Love Remains." Back Home in Kansas City turns out to be a deceptively versatile piece of work that showcases the diverse experience(s) of its participants as much as their varied technical skills: no one's playing here is so ostentatious it detracts from the contributions of his comrades. The results of Bobby Watson's tribute to roots isn't so far removed from work with his group Horizon in the Nineties and he burnishes his musical persona to a revivified glow.

Tracks and Personnel

Keyed Up

Tracks: Hallucinations (aka Budo); Second Thoughts; Humpty Dumpty; Soulful Bill; Quicksilver; Misty; Driftin'; Blues On the Corner (Take 2); Scoochie; Blues On the Corner (Take 1) . Personnel: Bobby Broom: guitar; Justin Dillard: piano, Hammond SKX; Dennis Carroll: bass; Koby Watkins: drums.

Back Home in Kansas City

Tracks: Back Home in Kansas City; Red Bank Heist; Our Love Remains; Bon Voyage; The Star in the East; Mind Wine; Celestial; Dear Lord; Side Steps; I'm Glad There Is You; Blues for Alto.

Personnel: Bobby Watson: tenor saxophone; Jeremy Pelt: trumpet; Cyrus Chestnutt: piano; Nicholas Payton: trumpet; Curtis Lundy: bass; Victor Jones: drums; Carmen Lundy: vocals.