Mike Melito: To Swing Is The Thing

The leader of any group whose credo is To Swing Is the Thing had best enlist some hired hands whose propensity to swing is sure and steady, regardless of mood or tempo. Veteran drummer Mike Melito's talented quintet runs that course without breaking a sweat, lending Melito all the help he needs to keep his eighth album as leader bright and swinging from start to finish.

Trumpeter Joe Magnarelli and tenor saxophonist Grant Stewart, past masters to whom swinging is second nature, share the front line while Melito, pianist Jeb Patton and bassist Neal Miner make sure the pilot light remains on high. Billy Strayhorn's mournful "Lush Life" is played as a fast-paced flag-waver with powerful solos by Magnarelli, Stewart, Patton and Melito. That is only one of several engaging highlights in this admirable session, as is a heated version of Jerome Kern's normally pensive ballad, "Make Believe," a showcase in waltz time for Patton's nimble piano as the horns sit that one out.

Even when the tempo slows, as on Thelonious Monk's enchanting "Ruby My Dear," the ensemble makes sure the swing quotient stays sharp, thanks in part to inventive solos by Stewart, Magnarelli and Patton, and even more so to deft timekeeping by Melito (on brushes) and Miner. The tempo and the heat rise again on John Coltrane's "Straight Street" and remain there through Stewart's groovy, bop-flavored "Three for Carson" and the harmonious finale, Miner's swift-moving "Locke Bop" (based on one of Irving Berlin's more enchanting themes, "The Best Thing for You").

Melito takes his cue from another avowed swinger, saxophonist Stanley Turrentine, opening with a pair of Turrentine's burners, "You Said It" and "Big Red." The late drummer Johnny Ellis' "A Bee Has Two Brains" hustles briskly onward behind splendid solos by all hands, while Magnarelli's lyrical "Blue Key" may be less gregarious in nature but no less earnest in spirit. Patton, Magnarelli and Stewart fashion impressive solos, as they do whenever called upon. If swing is your thing, make a note to check out Melito's convivial quintet. Not many recent albums swing as freely or as often.