Marcus Printup: Nocturnal Traces

Trumpeter Marcus Printup may echo the sounds of the greats, but this young, hard-bopper is slowly finding his voice and is making quite a name for himself. His tone on this CD, his third for BlueNote as a leader, is tart and tangy, very musical and totally confident. His assured demeanor could be explained by the fact that this is the first time Marcus has recorded with his own band. Kevin Bales (piano), Ricky Ravelo (bass) and Woody Williams (drums) provide him with the kind of rock-solid rhythm that characterizes the best jazz aggregations. The 10-track program is evenly split between Printup's originals and some classic standards. Young Marcus is a bit of a traditionalist, so it's not surprising that he has included Body And Soul, Ain't Misbehavin' and Have You Met Miss Jones to the mix. The originals lean heavily towards the "Blakey" school of jazz and Woody's Beat and Pier Pressure crackle with high-energy precision. The gentle samba Shertzing Along, inspired by his wife Loren Shertzer, maintains a nice to and fro groove. The inclusion of the pop ditty How Can You Keep The Music Playing may be the only serious misstep in this entire affair. Hey----nine out of ten ain't bad! ****