Earthwise Productions brought them to Palo Alto yesterday for an afternoon show. The audience was meager (25?), per usual, which is too bad because the show was fantastic. I love that these guys, a quartet of first-rate young jazz artists who are recording for Blue Note and making a splash, did not just phone it in for us, the staid, aging suburban listeners, but poured their heart into it and really seemed to be enjoying themselves. What a gift to us.
This is a pretty straight-ahead band in the Blue Note tradition. Brandon Woody is truly a trumpeter to be reckoned with. He takes most of the solos, and improvises long, fast, and fluid, with a clear tone and abundant ideas. The rest of the band is more than solid: Troy Long (p), Quincy Phillips (d), and Michael Saunders (b).
Here they are at the Kennedy Center (yes, that's what I still call it). This is nice, but go hear them live if you get the chance.
I am a professor of economics at Santa Clara University. I like to write; hence this blog. Views expressed are mine and mine alone. Thanks for visiting. (Photo above: Diplacus aurantiacus, one of our lovely California native monkeyflowers.)
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