Quamon Fowler: Introducing Quamon Fowler

Quamon Fowler, student of the renowned jazz teacher Dr. Alvin Batiste at Southern University of Baton Rouge, steps out into the electrons with a contemporary jazz/neo-Hard Bop offering in Introducing Quamon Fowler. This maiden voyage is populated with smartly constructed, hook-filled compositions that showcase Fowler's tightly-focused, ultra-dense tone contrasted against the ethereal back drop of Arlington Jones' Fender Rhodes and/or Joey Carter's vibraphone. Fowler is well-schooled in Hard Bop as well as R&B. His playing betrays only a small nod to John Coltrane, choosing instead a more Michael Brecker meets David Sanborn direction. Introducing ... is what Hard Bop would sound like had it waited 40 years to be born. "Eternal Moments" and "Inner Me" are the best of the lot, but the lot are all mighty fine. Fowler's blues playing is well represented on "D-Town Blues", which expand the definition of that old 12-bar format in a most enjoyable and unexpected way. A fine young talent deserving of greater recognition.

This critic's only hope would be that a label, any label, would pick up Mr. Fowler and nurture his talent.