For the People

We often hear of musicians coming from a 'musical background', but Chicago trumpeter Pharez Whitted probably takes the prize. His father was a drummer who played with Freddie Hubbard and Wes Montgomery, while his mother had a family band which included four of Pharez's uncles (the most famous being the ultra-talented Slide Hampton) and three aunts and four of Pharez's five children are also involved in music. Now 52, this excellent trumpeter had two albums on Motown's ill-fated MoJazz imprint in the mid-1990s before becoming a serious educator at Chicago State University. This is his second leader date for Origin and features his regular quintet, augmented and co-produced by the often overlooked - but much respected - guitarist Bobby Broom, whose warmly constructed solo lines are a highlight of a CD that's obviously aimed at pleasing as many of the public as possible. The musicianship is beyond reproach. Whitted is obviously an ardent Hubbard fan and plays inventively and spiritedly throughout the varied set. Bayard is a fine forceful tenor and soulful soprano player, while Perrillo has his own distinctive agenda going, backed by Carroll's solid bass and the intelligent 'listening' swing of Artry's occasionally over-busy drumming. The material (all by Whitted) is a mixture of contemporary hard bop, good-time jazz and smooth-ish (but not too smooth!) jazz. Definitely, as it says on the tin: 'for the people'.