Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Tobias Gebb & Unit 7: free at last

Tobias Gebb & Unit 7: free at last

By Terrell Kent Holmes
April 10, 2010
View read count

On free at last, drummer Tobias Gebb shows great depth and maturity as a composer and arranger. This recording is a balanced mix of originals and standards, from various musical genres, combined to produce rich sounds and vibrant colors.

Veteran altoist

Bobby Watson

saxophone, alto
b.1953

" data-original-title="" title="">Bobby Watson and young tenor lion

Stacy Dillard

saxophone

" data-original-title="" title="">Stacy Dillard take star turns on the brisk "Blues for Drazen," one of several tunes with a hard bop pedigree.

Joel Frahm

saxophone, tenor

" data-original-title="" title="">Joel Frahm's gritty tenor,

Joe Magnarelli

trumpet
b.1960

" data-original-title="" title="">Joe Magnarelli's fluttering trumpet and Mark Gross}' shoulder-weaving alto do a delightful boogaloo on the mischievous "Spitball." Watson's lamenting alto and Dillard's consoling tenor have a lovely dialogue on "You Don't Know What Love Is." The leader doubles on drums and castanets, giving the tune a distinctly Latin flavor.

Gebb's passion comes through on the elegiac, heartfelt title track, inspired by Barack Obama's election as president. Frahm is at his bluesiest here, playing tenor with a strong gospel feeling. The clever "Softly As In a Morning Contemplation" seamlessly blends the songs "Softly As In a Morning Sunrise" and "Contemplation," tunes associated with the great pianist

McCoy Tyner

piano
1938 - 2020

" data-original-title="" title="">McCoy Tyner. Dillard grooves on the tenor, clear as a bell and Watson is right after him on alto, as pianist Eldad Zvulun, acting as the song's conscience, comps steadily. Gebb's splendid arrangement of the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows," with Neel Murgai's robust sitar, shows just how perfectly suited the song is to the jazz idiom.

Although the styles here are time-honored, Gebb and his band mates make them sound as new as a freshly opened LP. There's nothing overly complicated or outsized on free at last. Tobias Gebb simply chose a diverse roster of songs, gathered a group of fine players and the result is some great jazz.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Blues for Drazen; My Love; Spitball; You Don't Know What Love Is; Bop Be Dop; Free At Last; Softly as in a Morning Contemplation; Tomorrow Never Knows.

Personnel

Tobias Gebb

drums

Tobias Gebb: drums; Bobby Watson: alto saxophone (1, 4, 7); Joe Magnarelli: trumpet (2, 3, 6); Ron Blake: tenor saxophone (5); Joel Frahm: tenor saxophone (2, 3, 6, 8); Stacy Dillard: tenor saxophone (1, 4, 5, 7); Mark Gross: alto saxophone (2, 3, 6, 8); Ugonna Okegwo: acoustic bass (2, 3, 6, 8); Neal Miner: acoustic bass (1, 4, 5, 7); Neel Murgai: sitar (8); Eldad Zvulun: piano.

Album information

Title: free at last | Year Released: 2010 | Record Label: Yummyhouse Records

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Tell Me Everything
< Previous

Come and Get It
Next >

Tobias Gebb Concerts

Sep 17 Wed

Tobias Gebb feat. Mike LeDonne

Winnie's Jazz Bar
New York, NY

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.