City Life: Music of Gregg Hill

Trombonist Michael Dease continues his catalogue building from th ecomposition skills of Gregg Hill, this time with a two disc album with two different band formats.

The first is a bopping trio session with Linda May Han Oh/b and Jeff 'Tain' Watts, with daughter Brooklyn Dease adding the innocence of a childlike voice to the multi-mooded "Movie Theme". Along with a Salt Peanuts take of JJ Johnson's "Sweet Georgia Gillespie" and a bluesy "Say Whaat?" from Sharel Cassity, Dease focuses on the bop side of the Hill as on the easy "Willow Walks In" and languid "City Life".

The quintet brings in the warm tenor sax of Nicole Glover, lyrical piano of Geoffrey Keezer and cameo bass of Jared Beckstead-Craan for a hard bopping "The Classic II" and soulful "Tea Time". Glover taps into her inner Hank Mobley on a creamy "Blues For Herb" and warm "Enigma" and Watts is simply marvelous, crisp as Romaine lettuce on "Rainy Afternoon" and working with Oh on a wholly hip "Lafayette Square" with the leader is superchargedly bopping the blues away. Another hill worth climbing