Stanco's Time

5-STARS Albums with great trumpeters are released again and again, such as this magnificent album by Anthony Stanco, who was born in Detroit but now lives and teaches in Michigan, "Stanco's Time", which he recorded with a top-class quintet, including Randy Napoleon, Xavier Davis, Rodney Whitaker, Joe Farnsworth, and with Walter Blanding (ts) as a guest on three tracks, expanding the quintet to a sextet. The album's program consists of half Stanco originals and half jazz classics by Tadd Dameron, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Thelonius Monk and Charlie Parker. The focus is on bebop, hard bop and soul jazz. Musical highlights include Stanco's "Showtime", a piece rooted in hard bop, in which trumpet, guitar and piano set off a solo firework display. Many themes are introduced in unison by trumpet and guitar, a clever combination that makes you sit up and take notice. The duos on the album are impressive. Stanco plays the Miles Davis track "Dig" with Farnsworth, in which the drummer demonstrates his brush playing skills, while the Monk ballad "Ask Me Now" is only performed by the duo of trumpet and guitar. "Deep Time" brings back memories of the Jazz Messengers, while Walter Blanding shines with a magnificent tenor saxophone solo on the fast "Worth the Time". The liner notes, written by the well-known trombonist Michael Dease, who also teaches at Michigan State University, are well worth reading.