Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Gary Smulyan: Smul's Paradise

68

Gary Smulyan: Smul's Paradise

By

View read count
Recognized as one of the premiere baritone saxophonist in jazz today, Gary Smulyan has long had an affinity for the classic jazz organ trios and on Smul's Paradise he finally pays tribute to the format joining forces with Mike LeDonne, a master of the Hammond B3 organ. Not since saxophonist Ronnie Cuber performed with Lonnie Smith in the early '70s, has a baritone saxophonist led a typical organ trio. One major difference with this recording however; that the saxophonist fronts a quartet rather than a standard trio for this purpose, enlisting the help of guitarist Peter Bernstein and drumming sensation Kenny Washington to realize this long-awaited homage.

Though the theme here is to remember the music of organ trios in general, with "Up In Betty's Room," "Aires" and Smulyan's own "Blues For D.P.," the album also serves as a tribute to the late Prestige Records organist Don Patterson, a favorite of both Smulyan and LeDonne. The duo present a dynamite combination forging powerful solo moments throughout the session revealing just how exciting the baritone sax and organ grind can sound. The opening swinging salvo is proof enough as Smulyan and LeDonne provide blistering improvised solo moments on a furious treatment of the Bobby Herb '60s pop classic "Sunny," so unique that the melody is a challenge to discern.

The rendition of organist Rhonda Scott's "Pistachio" is definitely one of the brighter highlights of the album featuring sprite solos from Bernstein, LeDonne and the leader firing up an already funky tune. The original title track features the saxophonist at his best letting it all hang out with one steamy solo after another. Of course he's not the only one who sounds off on this piece; the other players also take turns displaying their hard-bop chops. Washington is especially pronounced on the George Coleman standard "Little Miss Half Step," while Smulyan's light bluesy dedication piece to Patterson, "Blues For D.P." finds both saxophone and organ voices providing the meat of the melody.

Arguably the defining piece of the tribute has to be Patterson's "Aires," a slow-moving sensitive balladic piece serving to highlight the husky burly baritone and the grinding organ sounds as perfectly suited to interpret beautiful warm-toned ballads. The fast-paced moving burner "Heavenly Hours" closes the album delivering one last burst of fire from the sax man. Though not a typical tribute album where the focus is usually on paying homage to one musician, Gary Smulyan's broader organ trio theme, actually began as a tribute to Don Patterson. Nevertheless, Smul's Paradise is a special album where the talents of four jazz luminaries are harnessed to produce an exciting, compelling post-bop sizzler of a recording.

Track Listing

Sunny; Up In Betty's Room; Pistaccio; Smul's Paradise; Little Miss Half Steps; Aires; Blues For D.P.; Heavenly Hours.

Personnel

Gary Smulyan: baritone saxophone; Mike LeDonne: Hammond B3; Peter Bernstein: guitar; Kenny Washington: drums.

Album information

Title: Smul's Paradise | Year Released: 2012 | Record Label: Capri 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.