Pastures

As I listen to Clay's superb jazz piano work (for the third time through the album now), one word comes to mind - POWERFUL! His strong style first enchanted my ears in issue # 162, and he got (very) high marks from me on that release as well (in fact, I went back and listened all the way through that album, too - as I often do with jazz players who exceed all expectations). On this (even better) release, he's joined by Donny McCaslin on tenor & soprano sax & flutes, Drew Gress on acoustic bass and Matt Wilson on drums, and tunes like the 8:07 opener, "The Time For Now", will capture your musical attention immediately... super recording quality, infinite mesh of the players and all of the other qualities that make a jazz song stay in your memory for the long term! Drew's bass intro on "Highwire" sets the tune up for exactly the "edge" energy you would expect from a song with that title - superb energy on this one! My personal favorite of the nine tunes offered up is the wonderful "Infinity X"... an absolutely stunning piece that uses the full range of each of the players. I give Clay and his players a MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, with an "EQ" (energy quotient) rating of 4.99 for this most memorable album.