My Heart

After 32 years, this album by bassist Jeff Johnson (*1954) is finally released, with a great quartet: John Gross (ts), Art Resnick (p) and Billy Mintz. Six of the bassist's compositions that he wrote for this quartet and which were perfected at several concerts in the US states of Washington and Oregon before being recorded - in just four hours - in the studio at the beginning of December 1991. Mostly recorded as first takes, they prove his compositional class. Swinging uptempo numbers alternate with sensitive ballads in which the quartet pulls out all the stops of their skills and impresses with first-class solos. Particularly successful are "Linden Station" with solos from piano, tenor saxophone and drums, the ballad-like "Leviathan" with a fantastically beautiful tenor solo, the medium-paced "Companions," in which Jeff Johnson is successful with his full-sounding, warm bass solo, and the ballad "Watercolors" with an enchantingly beautiful theme. Interesting is "Studio City," originally 17 minutes long, which Jeff Johnson shortened to five minutes, an intense dialogue between John Gross and Billy Mintz. 4/5 - "DEFINITELY LISTEN" (Translated from German)