Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Sean Smith Quartet: Sean Smith Quartet Live

178

Sean Smith Quartet: Sean Smith Quartet Live

Sean Smith Quartet: Sean Smith Quartet Live
Sean Smith is a talented bassist who has provided his music expertise for the likes of Carole Sloan and Jan Leder. A very busy man is Sean Smith. Here Smith releases a live collection of eight originals and one standard performed by his quartet. The ride here is crisp and clean.

Sean Smith’s compositional style is firmly fixed in the Post Bop movement, with the exception of straight-ahead drumming. His upbeat “Pipe Dream” and “Blues for Beans” are cleverly angular and intricate. His ballads “A Not So Sad Folk Song” and “Secret Ballad/Song Without A Lyric” show him a sensitive composer as well as performer (he opens the latter with a quite pretty arco solo). His sidemen, all Chiaroscuro Records regulars are well known to him and compliment his overall soft touch. Bill Charlap, who has led several dates with Smith accompanying him on bass, is a perfect accompanist on piano (Charlap was featured in Janet Sommer's March “Eye & Ear” column at All About Jazz ), while alto player Allen Mezquida swings with a pretty, sweet tone.

The sonics of the disc are very good as is the quantity of music provided (70+ minutes). Chiaroscuro Records was one of the last stomping grounds for Earl Hines and Mary Lou Williams. Sean Smith finds himself appropriately is such good company.

Track Listing

Pipe Dream; Minor Peace; A Not So Sad Folk Song; Quiet Debacle; Blues For Beans; Secret Ballad/Song Without A Lyric; Take The Bullet Trane; Enigma; Drop Me Off In Harlem. (Total Time: 74:56)

Personnel

Sean Smith
bass, acoustic

Sean Smith: Bass; Allen Mezquida: Alto Saxophone; Bill Charlap; Ron Vincent: Drums.

Album information

Title: Sean Smith Quartet Live | Year Released: 2000 | Record Label: Chiaroscuro Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Eternal Moments
Yoko Yates
From "The Hellhole"
Marshall Crenshaw
Tramonto
John Taylor

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.