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Joshua Kaye Quartet: Live!

By Stephen Latessa
April 8, 2005
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It's amazing how much vitality can be imparted to hoary old chestnuts like "Summertime or "Softly, As In a Morning Sunrise when additional percussion is supplied. Suddenly, those familiar old melodies open up and reveal unexpected currents of possibility. The Joshua Kaye Quartet's Live! features takes on a number of standards, including the two mentioned above, fortified with some kinetic Latin swing.

Bongo player Danilo Paiz, who has played with such luminaries as Cal Tjader and Dizzy Gillespie, is the defining element of the band's sound. The presence of a percussionist in the role one would expect to be filled by a front line soloist pretty much ensures that the quartet is going to be primarily about grooves rather than individual statements. Thus, in the Kaye Quartet's version of "Take Five, bubbling undercurrents that are felt in the body rather than the head replace the airy ideas that Paul Desmond contributed to the original.

Based in San Francisco, the quartet features Joshua Kaye on piano, Robb Fisher on bass, Pete Riso on drums, and Paiz on bongos. The band is skilled at riding the grooves instead of cluttering the sound by working against the grain. These players sound like one organism working in complete harmony.

Track Listing

Summertime; On Green Dolphin Street; Chameleon; All Blues; Take Five; Softly As In A Morning Sunrise; Blue In Green; On Broadway; Beautiful Love; I Fall In Love Too Easily; Superman

Personnel

Joshua Kaye

guitar

Joshua Kaye-piano; Robb Fisher-bass; Pete Riso-drums; Danilo Paiz-bongos

Album information

Title: Live! | Year Released: 2005 | Record Label: Kaye Music

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