Exciting modern straight-ahead jazz Samuel Martinelli- CROSSING PATHS: One thing that happens on a regular basis here at my review studios is NEW music… this is my first listen to drummer Samuel’s excellent debut work, but it won’t be the last… you can get acquainted with each of the players in their promo short for the release…
…as you can see, in addition to Samuel’s excellent drum work, he’s also got Claudio Roditi on Trumpet, Marcus McLaurine doing Bass and some wonderful piano from Tomoko Ohno, and they compliment Samuel’s original compositions very nicely, especially on tunes like the rhythm-driven opener, “Samba Echoes“… the changes alone on this excellent 7:00 piece make it worth the purchase of the album.
Claudio’s horn intro on “Bob’s Blues” sets the tone for the tune, and each of the players has a chance to put their (significant) talents on display for the listener… I wouldn’t be at all surprised if this one gets recommended for an award… ultra-hip, ultra-cool…
Though there are only eight tunes on the album, it still clocks in at over fifty minutes, so it’s perfect for cruisin’ ’round town in my GTO… since I’m a piano player myself, it was easy to choose my personal favorite… Tomoko’s keyboard work on “St. Thomas” is solid, steady & ready for prime-time – right NOW!
I give Samuel and his players a MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, with an “EQ” (energy quotient) rating of 4.98 for this fine jazz adventure. Get more information on Samuel’s website. Rotcod Zzaj
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