Brad Goode: Live Your Dream

Live Your Dream is the second album on which trumpet master Brad Goode and acclaimed tenor saxophonist Ernie Watts have shared the front line. The first, That's Right!, was recorded eight years earlier, in 2018. The sophomore enterprise was taped live at the North Street Cabaret in Madison, Wisconsin, something the musicians were unaware of until after the concert was over.

Make no mistake, these are accomplished artists who have circled the track many times in a wide range of structures and styles, and have earned their spurs in pursuit of musical excellence in venues both stateside and around the world—as have their able teammates: pianist Adrean Farrugia, bassist Jay Anderson and drummer Adam Nussbaum. Taken together, their resumes alone would fill a decent-sized book.

Nonetheless, Live Your Dream lands well short of the mark. Yes, these are marvelous players, and they prove that is true on such numbers as Farrugia's rhythmic and charming "Goose Dance." There are others, however, wherein the quintet seems to be playing to the audience, unloading an array of pyrotechnic devices that often do not achieve their purpose— at least not outside the concert setting.

Watts wrote the album's pensive title song and soulful "For Michael" (Brecker) while Farrugia also wrote the luminous "Half Moon." Goode is showcased on the standard "Lover Man," Watts on "Someday My Prince Will Come." Even though Goode and Watts give every song their best shot, it is Farrugia—calm and composed—who is arguably the concert's strongest and most pleasing soloist. That is for the listener to decide. Suffice to note that Goode and Watts are an admirable team but their efforts here do not raise Live Your Dream appreciably above the norm.