Alvin Queen and Some Significant Others

February 5, 2009—The world of freewheeling hard bop remains alive today. Sometimes the blazing hell-for-leather onslaught of the best moments can be missing from some of today’s sessions. That’s a pity.

However, the Alvin Queen CD on tap this morning has plenty of the intensity of the classic dates. Queen is a very good drummer who has played with all sorts of people and the CD Jammin' Uptown (Just A Memory) is graced by the presence of some of the very best on the contemporary scene. The now deceased John Hicks mans the piano, Terence Blanchard is on trumpet, Robin Eubanks on trombone, Ray Drummond on bass, and the under-heralded Manny Boyd is on reeds. This music was originally released in 1985 and has been reissued with bonus material.

What you get are nicely turned blowing vehicles and some very nice contributions from all at hand. If you like the classic Art Blakey Jazz Messengers line-ups this will certainly appeal to you. You might find yourself shouting “go” like you were sitting at a table in the Birdland club, 1955.

Good Mainstream Jazz From Bassist Ruslan Khain

Originally posted on October 23, 2008

Another day in the world and this morning I am listening to a new Jazz CD by bassist Ruslan Khain called For Medicinal Purposes Only (Smalls). Now if you've never heard of this guy, not to worry. He is not a huge name in the jazz world. Judging from this music, though, he can play, group together a very good batch of players and write some very appropriate numbers in the hard bop style.

The tenor saxophone man is Chris Byers, and along with trumpeter Yoshi Okazaki and pianist Richard Clemens, there are some very good soloists. Drummer Phil Stewart keeps the flames high with a good grooving approach to jazz time. It’s another one of those solid releases from Smalls Records. Anyone who wants to know what mainstream jazz today is all about would get the idea with Ruslan Khain’s album. Good stuff, well played.