Last-minute arrangements sometimes turn out lucky. Drummer Dave Barry was booked for a recording session that was cancelled. He had wanted to record with saxophonist Art Themen for some time and grabbed the cancelled date. Themen was free, and so were their first choices, pianist Gareth Williams and bassist Dave Green. This is the result. The eight tracks are a mixture of numbers composed by jazz musicians and a few old songs that have drifted into the jazz repertoire, but here the treatment is looser and more inventive than the usual parade of solos. We often hear just piano and bass, for instance, or saxophone and piano.
The variety, not only of sound but of atmosphere and mood, is remarkable. The title piece, by Dexter Gordon, has Themen buzzing about its simple melody like a mischievous bee, whereas Williams’s striking facility with time shows that it doesn’t have to be simple at all. Ellington’s Prelude to a Kiss manages to be effortlessly Ellingtonian without imitating him and, for me, is the best of a very good bunch. All done in one day!
