Motives

The background information for Wellstone Conspiracy may be a tad confusing. This quartet made its debut a couple of years ago on the same label with an album (under Brent Jensen's name) entitled One More Mile. Yours truly gave them a respectable review then and the same holds true with this latest one. All of these fellows are veterans of the Pacific Northwest Jazz scene and are accorded the respect they deserve. As with their debut outing, the repertorial fare divided between Jensen and Anschell (who once again handles the bulk of the arranging" with "Portrait" from bassman Johnson and pianist's skillful chart of Billy Strayhorn's "A Flower is a Lovesome Thing." As before, Anschell leaves his mark on every tune as does Jensen whose fishhorn never reverts to sounding like the duck calls of some others. One can depend on Johnson for superb basswork; it's a shame ill Evans is no longer with us, they would be a perfect match. Label honcho connects all the dots with his impeccable timekeeping. Now that they have apparently decided on a band name maybe we can nook for future fine presentations from this fascinating group.