Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Paradigm Shift: Shifting Times

305

Paradigm Shift: Shifting Times

By

View read count
Paradigm Shift: Shifting Times
Unless you're from Rochester, NY, you've probably never heard of Paradigm Shift. With its first national release, Shifting Times , the organ-guitar-drums trio is ready to introduce the rest of the country to its upbeat brand of mainstream soul jazz.

Paradigm Shift's core is guitarist Melvin Henderson and organist Gerry Youngman. Both men have spent time backing big names—Henderson behind folks like Al Jarreau and Roy Ayers, Youngman with Chuck Mangione, Gary Burton, and Thad Jones, to name a few. Since coming together as a unit in the late '80s, the duo has served as one of Rochester's most dependable bands, filling in with visiting artists like saxophonist David "Fathead" Newman, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon, trumpeter Marcus Printup, and vibraphonist Joe Locke.

The new CD capitalizes on that shared history, with many of their headlining friends from the jazz world making guest appearances. Gordon and Locke get a workout on a funky version of Stevie Wonder's "Big Brother," while Printup makes his presence felt on Clifford Brown's "Sandu" and the Youngman original "Half A World Away."

Powering this aggregation is the powerful and assured drumming of Ted Poor. A recent graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Poor is already establishing himself on the New York City scene with Ben Monder and as a regular member of trumpeter Cuong Vu's band. He's a creative player who can find the "one" no matter where his drumming takes him. Write his name down; you'll be seeing it again.

While Shifting Times has a few standards—"Sandu," Jerome Kern's "Yesterdays," and "My Foolish Heart"—the majority of the music was written by Henderson and Youngman. The organist's "Sanibel Breeze" slides a jaunty melody for trombone and organ over the chords of Frank Foster's "Shiny Stockings," while Henderson shines as a writer on "Petra's Lament," a tune written for his wife.

Paradigm Shift doesn't really shift any paradigms, but the group does have a great time playing fun music. If you like solid grooves, confident soloing and engaging melodies, join the folks in Rochester and become a fan of Shifting Times.

Track Listing

Sandu; Yesterdays; Sanibel Breeze; Half a World Away; Shifting Times; Big Brother; First Shift; Simplistic Blues; Why Not Scrambled; Petra's Lament; My Foolish Heart

Personnel

Melvin Henderson (guitar), Gerry Youngman (organ, flugelhorn), Ted Poor (drums)
With guests: Wycliffe Gordon (trombone), Joe Locke (vibraphone), Marcus Printup (trumpet), Bill Tiberio (saxophones)

Album information

Title: Shifting Times | Year Released: 2004 | Record Label: Nagel Heyer 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

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

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.