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ALBUM REVIEWS May 17, 2018

Hughes Smith Quintet: Motion

Detroit's Hughes/Smith Quintet keeps the hard bop flame burning in this follow up to Ever Up & Onward (Self Produced, 2015). The album shares the same personnel--this has been a working band since 2013, and they sound like it--and the same positive energy. The program is all originals this time. Trumpeter Jimmy Smith's “The Runaround" opens the set with a blast of infectious funk (or perhaps it should more appropriately be called soul jazz, the label popular during ...

ALBUM REVIEWS April 24, 2016

James Hughes & Jimmy Smith Quintet: Ever Up & Onward

By Mark Sullivan

Detroit was once a vital jazz center, contributing some of the major hard bop artists of the 1960s: Hank, Thad, and Elvin Jones, Tommy Flanagan, Barry Harris, Paul Chambers, Kenny Burrell, and Ron Carter, just to name a few. The James Hughes & Jimmy Smith Quintet honors that tradition by playing mostly original hard bop with real flair. In addition to being strong soloists, saxophonist James Hughes and trumpeter Jimmy Smith contribute all of the compositions and arrangements.