Paul Kendall: My Shining Hour

If you were to randomly draw the names of "most charming and best-loved American popular standards" out of a hat, chances are you could not fare much better than Pennsylvania-based baritone saxophonist Paul Kendall has by design on My Shining Hour, a splendid album whose playlist encompasses no less than eight singular and seductive melodies from the Great American Songbook.

Of course, no melody, regardless of its inherent elegance and charm, is sufficient by itself to garner sweeping praise. Rhythmic choices must be precise, color and nuance creative and pleasing, group interplay smooth and trouble-free. Here again, Kendall and his quartet (George Grund, piano; Roy Cumming, bass; Rudy Petschauer, drums) check all the requisite boxes, bringing these standards and half a dozen other enchanting themes (two by Antonio Carlos Jobim, one each by Clifford Brown, Randy Weston, Charlie Parker) and Tadd Dameron) sharply and clearly to life.

Jobim wrote "Once I Loved" and "Desafinado," Brown "Joy Spring," Weston "Hi Fly," Parker "Confirmation," Dameron "If You Could See Me Now." Impressive as they are, they must bow in deference to such renowned masters as Cole Porter, Matt Dennis, Harold Arlen, Bronislau Kaper, Gus Kahn, Johnny Mercer, Victor Scherzinger, Johnny Burke and James Van Heusen whose memorable themes comprise the nucleus of this radiant and well-designed studio date. Kendall and his mates give every one of them their best shot, which is more than enough to spur this handsome stallion across the finish line and earn topmost honors.

While Kendall's gruff yet nimble baritone is most often in the forefront, lending every tune its essential character and tone, everyone plays an important role in the enterprise, and the rhythmic and harmonic talents of Grund, Cumming and Petschauer should neither be minimized nor overlooked, as they are indispensable ingredients in a tantalizing and flavorful recipe—so appetizing that My Shining Hour should please almost any champion of the music commonly known as contemporary jazz.