Nash, leader on a clutch of discs of wildly varying success, here records his finest session yet. I was entirely taken by his last session with the Still Evolved band, but this one tops it.Ted Nash is growing into a wonderfully nuanced tenor sax player--extremely precise, yet displaying a highly charged emotional intensity, very attractively present throughout this session, but most prominent on the ballad numbers ("Kensington High," "Zaba's Dream," and "The Cubist," perhaps not really a ballad; more like ..
This is challenging music. Ted Nash is joined by Marcus Printup on trumpet, Frank Kimbrough on piano, Ben Allison on bass and Matt Wilson on drums for a nine-composition recording that constantly surprises and challenges the listener. None of this is "straight ahead", the ensemble playing is tightly arranged and the improvizations often explore unfamiliar ground.These days, small bands with horns often place considerable emphasis within the composition on ensemble playing. Bands led by Miguel Zenon, Kenn..
Overview:This is perhaps Nash's most straight forward CD. The style of the album is post bob/hard bop. The thing that makes this album stand out over Nash's other albums is the stellar song writing and the fantastic solos. In the loop features cleverly written songs from start to finish with a variety of moods and tempos. Each song has a nice balance between melodic parts, and free space for blistering solos. Nash is joined by a killer group featuring Ben Allison on bass, Frank Kimbrough on piano, Marcu..
