Dick Titterington: Yellow Dance

This is an interesting second effort from trumpeter Dick Titterington whose debut was '98's Amber Eyes. Essentially, the group is a pianoless trio of trumpet, bass, and drums that is augmented on half of the dozen tracks by flutist Tim Jensen, tenor saxophonist Rob Davis, and melodica player Randy Porter. So the recording explores different musical textures and various musical directions.

Overall,Titterington performs his originals (about half of the album) in an edgy style, seeming to want to take the music outside but never getting there. The remaining songs are done in a quite attractive mainstream fashion. Jensen's flute makes perfect sense as the lead instrument on João Gilberto/João Donato's "Minha Saudade" and also lends to the original "Seams." The melody line is perfectly suited to the dual horns (Davis and Titterington), sans piano, on Monk's "Trinkle Tinkle." The Harburg/Burton showtune "How Are Things in Glocca Mora?" is just plain pretty. On the other hand, Victor Feldman's jazz classic "Seven Steps To Heaven" is fragmentary and as played by the trio an exploratory work. There is a nice touch adding pianist Randy Porter (who here plays melodica) on "Glocca Morra" and "Alice in Wonderland."

It is interesting to note that this album is coproduced by mainstream jazz vocalist Rebecca Kilgore.