Bobby Wiens: Focus

There are times when superb musicianship can redeem an album that may otherwise be gauged as no more than ordinary. Focus, Canadian-bred drummer Bobby Wiens’ second recording as leader, marks one of those times. Even though the album’s dozen themes are, aside from a few outliers, matter-of-fact, they are so marvelously performed by Wiens’ talented quartet that the album’s listening experience becomes a genuine pleasure.

<PWhile Wiens, who wrote and arranged the first eleven of those tunes, keeps a firm hand on the throttle, he is astute enough to earmark ample blowing space for his able teammates: trumpeter Gabriel Mervine, pianist Tom Amend and bassist Seth Lewis, none of whom is ever less than admirable. In fact, a reasonable argument could be made that they deliver the the lion’s share of the spirit that raises the enterprise above the commonplace; this despite Wiens’ powerful and persuasive timekeping.

To glean a clearer impression of what that means, one must go “Back to the Beginning,” as Wiens does in an opening duet with Mervine’s wah-wah trumpet, then “Focus” on the quartet as a tight-knit group with the first of several inspiring solos by Amend, Mervine and Wiens who then uses brushes on the shuffling “Hat Trick” (enhanced by Lewis’ introductory message and crisp exchanges between Amend and Mervine). The ballad “Devoted Heart” is one of Wiens’ more impressive charts, as is the invigorating “Morning Run.” Mervine shines on “Heart,” as he does on the lively bossa “Sun Dance” (written for drummer Al Foster), which also includes cogent statements by Amend, Lewis and the leader, and Amend again (muted) on “Morning Run,” with more splendid brushwork there by Wiens.

“Mantra,” “For AJ” and the charming “Minor Dilemma” (another showcase for Mervine’s limber trumpet) lead to the closing number, Bob Dylan’s gospel-aligned “With God on Our Side,” which presumably sounds better with a lyric. Not an especially enticing exit, but hardly enough to mar the album as a whole, whose over-all grade remains well above average.