Survival of the Fittest

For VanHemert's newest recorded effort, producer Michael Dease has assembled a crack combo that should ring a few bells among regular readers. Joining the two other horns are the same names that graced Sharel Cassity's recent Sunnyside disc reviewed in the last issue of this mag. Also present is the same drummer along with Helen Sung and Rodney Whitaker rounding out the solid underpinning. The leader has a handful of discs out and while he's adroit on most reed instruments here he augments his main sax (tenor) with equally compelling alto work. For someone who has spent much of his life's work in a teaching capacity his playing does not reek of the sterility of academia as have a few others. As current head of jazz studies at Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma his passion remains intact. The playing program is broken up intelligently by the insertion of a triad of duets between the protagonist which follows "Softly..." (with drums), "Sea Of Tranquility (Sung) and Duke's "Come Sunday" (with upright). Many other high points are heard but the title closing track should not be confused with any of the thirty-something numbers of the same name. You get the picture; the future looks shiny and bright for this all-American Seoulman.