This release from drummer
Dick Berk & the Jazz Adoption Agency
teams together three veterans (
Berk
, pianist
John Hicks
, and bassist
Ray Drummond
) with the promising young tenor
Jay Collins
and the frequently exciting guitarist
Dan Faehnle
. The music ranges from
bop
(a cooking rendition of
Charlie Parker
's
"Klactoveedsetene"
) and the
soul-jazz
of
Collins
'
"East Coast Stroll"
to a 6/4 version of
"Everything Happens to Us"
and
Wes Montgomery
's rarely played
"SOS."
Every selection is enjoyable, including the heated
blues
"That Party Upstairs"
ballad
feature on
"We'll Be Together Again."
This underrated band was one of the best in 1990s
hard bop
. ~ Scott Yanow