Day

Qualicum Beach's Phil Dwyer and Portland-based drummer Alan Jones have had a long, fruitful musical relationship, and they team-up again on this recording also featuring another pair of musicians from Portland, pianist Darrell Grant and bassist Tom Wakeling. The quartet's repertoire includes originals by Jones and Dwyer and joyful, tender readings of standards like Wouldn't It Be Lovely and Where Or When and a gorgeous version of Alain Jean-Marie's Italian Sorrow. Dwyer's tenor saxophone is at the heart of the Bridge Quartet's juicy, collective swing. He's never sounded better on record, and when he launches into the band's reading of Sonny Rollins' Strode Rode, look out! It's a frenetic cooker that also showcases Jones' muscular drumming. The quartet's version of Miles Davis's Milestones is a stone groove too.