David Sneider: Introducing David Sneider

What better way to introduce young trumpeter David Sneider than with one of his half-dozen buoyant new compositions, "Marvelous-Lee," the opening number on Sneider's congenial debut recording. That delightful salute to fellow trumpeter Lee Morgan also introduces one of Sneider's two front-line partners, tenor saxophonist Jacob Chung, and the ensemble's able rhythm section: pianist Tyler Henderson, bassist Joey Ranieri and drummer Willie Bowman.

Sneider, who placed first in the 2021 Carmine Caruso International Jazz Trumpet Competition, is from the Morgan-Donald Byrd-Freddie Hubbard school of hard bop who also brings to mind the Stan Kenton orchestra's fabulous solo star, Conte Candoli. Even so, Sneider has his own singular voice, which he uses to amplify every number.

Sneider's other collaborator on the front line, alto saxophonist Erena Terabuko, makes her initial appearance on the third track, a curiously subdued rendition of the session's lone standard, "Bye Bye Blackbird," and takes the first of her several astute solos on the next one, Quincy Jones' handsome "Robot Portrait." Sneider wrote the buoyant swinger, "The Music is the Bandleader," the meditative "Mama Bear" and sunny "Tim and Bim," all of which lead to the ensemble's farewell theme, Thelonious Monk's brisk and quirky "Hackensack."

Sneider's introduction is an event worth remembering, as he may soon need no introduction to jazz fans at home or abroad.

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