Your Check's In The Mail

Veteran trombonist and bandleader Stan Bock also harks from the West: Portland, Oregon, to be precise, where he holds forth at a club called Jimmy Mak's with a medium size ensemble that packs the punch of a big band but offers the soloists the open spaces of a small ensemble. Your Check's in the Mail is the band's latest endeavor. Like most regional musicians he can't afford the luxury of stylistic parochialism. His audiences like a wide range of music, so it's his job to provide that, and if you're going to play it you may as well cultivate a certain affection for it. So this session has a tuba-propelled boogaloo, a pretty waltz, a funktribute to James Brown, and even a country ballad, "I Cross My Heart." The session though is built on a superstructure of a half-dozen out and out swingers that give all hands a chance to blow. Everyone acquits himself well, Bock leading the way with some fat bop lines and even stepping out with an effective scat chorus on the title tune. Jattik Clark on tuba adds greatly to the texture of the band, providing an extra layer of fat to the bottom and some additional kick. A noteworthy release.