Bobby Hutcherson: The Kicker (Blue Note)
Now just issued, vibist Hutcherson's December 1963 debut as a leader on Blue Note is a marvellous surprise, reuniting the sextet that, a month earlier, had made Idle Moments. While this session doesn't quite have the urgency or tightness of its classic predecessor, its quality and freshness are undeniable. The solo work of the Hutcherson-Joe Henderson-Grant Green front line, sympathetically backed by Duke Pearson, Bob Cranshaw and Al Harewood, is, at times, awesomely good; notably 14 minutes of communal joy on Henderson's 16-bar blues, Step Lightly, and the delightful Bedouin, matching Idle Moments. More conservative than where Hutcherson and Henderson were then heading, it's still astonishing the album stayed under wraps for so long.
Ray Comiskey
Trio Time: How Beautiful is Night (Calligraph)
Trio Time - Ted Beament (piano), Paul Bridge (bass) and Adrian Macintosh (drums) - is Humphrey Lyttelton's rhythm section. Judging by this enjoyable album, it's a working entity in its own right, an integrated, solidly swinging, straight-ahead unit which, if anything, recalls the Miles Davis section with pianist Red Garland; the material base - standards leavened with some jazz originals - echoes it, as does Beament's tendency to climax solos as Garland did. Despite an occasional feeling that themes are entertainingly toyed with, rather than fully engaged, this is a well-crafted release, exemplified by the trio's rhythmic and harmonic re-dressing of Jerome Kern's Yesterdays, Beament's gift for melodic improvisation, Bridge's exceptional bass playing and Macintosh's always supportive drums.
Ray Comiskey