Geoffrey Dean Quartet: Foundations

Foundations is a generally swinging debut recording by Washington, DC-based pianist and educator Geoffrey Dean's quartet. The studio date pays tribute to the groundwork laid by its storied predecessors, especially those steeped in the hard bop movement that helped change the course of jazz, well before Dean or his sidemen were born.

The album consists of seven relatively unsung compositions by Sam Rivers, Sonny Clark, Duke Pearson, Elmo Hope, Peter Bernstein and Andrew Hill, and two others—Miles Davis' "Nardis" and Wayne Shorter's "E.S.P."—that could plausibly be deemed jazz standards. The former is played fairly straight- ahead, the latter at a leisurely pace with sudden flourishes by trumpeter Justin Copeland that render its familiar melody almost incidental.

The album's subtitle reads "Featuring Harish Raghavan," and the bassist is indeed showcased to good advantage on the seductive opener, Rivers' "Cyclic Episode," as well as on Pearson's melodious "Is That So" and Hope's amiable "Low Tide." Drummer Eric Binder has his say on "E.S.P." Elsewhere, Copeland and Dean carry the ball, with Copeland especially forceful on the closing numbers, Bernstein's "Jet Stream" and Hill's "Yokada Yokada." As for Dean, his solos are always eloquent and well-balanced.

The fast-paced "Jet Stream" is a highlight, as are "E.S.P.," Clark's bright and groovy "Blue Minor" (ardent solos courtesy of Copeland and Dean) and Hill's buoyant "Akuda Akuda." Clark also wrote the session's lone ballad, "My Conception" (its graceful melody is eerily akin to Jerome Kern's "The Way You Look Tonight," as "E.S.P." now and again mimics Mack Gordon and Harry Warren's "The More I See You").

When all is said and done and the sum total entered, Foundations is an admirable salute to the hard bop style with much to recommend it.