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Adam Shulman Septet: West Meets East

By Jack Bowers
August 14, 2020
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The "west" here is represented by San Francisco-based pianist and group leader

Adam Shulman

piano
b.1979

" data-original-title="" title="">Adam Shulman, the "east" by the other half-dozen members of Shulman's impressive septet. Even though the reasons that led to the alliance are ambiguous, what matters is the payoff, and that is more than admirable from any vantage point.

As if to mirror the ensemble's six-and-one makeup, Shulman wrote six of the album's seven engaging numbers; the seventh (the rapid-fire "Whose Blues") was composed by West Coast legend

Lennie Niehaus

saxophone, alto
1929 - 2020

" data-original-title="" title="">Lennie Niehaus. The session opens on a bright note with the jaunty "Nickel and Dimed" (a.k.a. "Pennies from Heaven"), whose radiant solos are by Shulman and trumpeter

Joe Magnarelli

trumpet
b.1960

" data-original-title="" title="">Joe Magnarelli. The light-hearted "Manne-Splainin,'" whose catchy melody brings to mind

George Shearing

piano
1919 - 2011

" data-original-title="" title="">George Shearing's "Lullaby of Birdland" and

Jimmy Giuffre

clarinet
1921 - 2008

" data-original-title="" title="">Jimmy Giuffre's "Four Brothers," introduces the other front-liners, alto

Ian Hendrickson-Smith

saxophone, alto

" data-original-title="" title="">Ian Hendrickson-Smith, tenor

Stephen Riley

saxophone, tenor

" data-original-title="" title="">Stephen Riley and trombonist

Steve Davis

trombone
b.1967

" data-original-title="" title="">Steve Davis. Riley, whose breathy phrasing is a throwback to a time when saxophonists could be singled out by their unique sound and personality, sparkles on the groovy "Lean and Mean," as do his fellow horns and bassist

David Wong

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">David Wong. "Mingus Dreams of

Billy Strayhorn

piano
1915 - 1967

" data-original-title="" title="">Billy Strayhorn," the first of the album's two ballads (the other is the graceful "Heart of Winter"), features Shulman's sensitive piano in a salute to

Charles Mingus

bass, acoustic
1922 - 1979

" data-original-title="" title="">Charles Mingus' "

Duke Ellington

piano
1899 - 1974

" data-original-title="" title="">Duke Ellington's Sound of Love." Wong also solos before the ensemble re-states the charming melody. "Whose Blues," a no-holds-barred flag-waver that calls to mind the peerless Jazz Messengers, embodies muscular solos by the front line and tenacious backing from Shulman, Wong and drummer

Rodney Green

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Rodney Green who trades eights with the ensemble and launches a forceful solo of his own before the coda. The amiable waltz "Jack's Basket" precedes "Heart of Winter" and the closing "Central Avenue Rundown," another paradigm of irrepressible West Coast harmony and rhythm with buoyant solos by everyone and Davis echoing warmly, as he does throughout, the late great

J.J. Johnson

trombone
1924 - 2001

" data-original-title="" title="">J.J. Johnson.

A number of recent small-group albums have gazed in the rear-view mirror and aimed to re-create the ardor and energy animating those legendary ensembles that canonized the remarkable Prestige-Blue Note era of the 1950s-'60s. West Meets East is clearly one of the best.

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Track Listing

Nickel and Dimed; Manne-Splainin��; Lean and Mean; Mingus Dreams of Billy Strayhorn; Whose Blues; Jack��s Basket; Heart of Winter; Central Avenue Rundown.

Personnel

Adam Shulman

piano

Joe Magnarelli

trumpet

Ian Hendrickson-Smith

saxophone, alto

Stephen Riley

saxophone, tenor

Steve Davis

trombone

David Wong

bass

Rodney Green

drums

Album information

Title: West Meets East | Year Released: 2020 | Record Label: Cellar Music Group

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