Tuesday Night

I bet you didn't know that Portland Oregon has a cooking jazz scene. They even have an annual festival, rain or shine! Here, you've got local hero Gordon Lee on piano along with drummer Mel Brown's band of Derek Sims/tp, Renato Caranto/ts, John Nastos/as, Stan Bock/tb and Andre St. James/b sizzling through Lee's material that has a hard bop heartbeat. With a full horn front line, you get some great harmonies on material like the exotic "Istanbul" as well as the muscular "Machangulo." Caranto's tenor gets moaning on "Blue & Bluer," and even Rachamninoff gets a piece of the action as a melody of his is juiced up on "Full Moon." Throughout, the rhythm team is as tight as an all star infield, and Nastos' alto is as pungent as Sangria, particularly on "Change Your Dreams." This one's an easy call to enjoy!