This CD, sitting bravely with the greats in the jazz stacks at the Compact Disc Store, won me over with its packaging moxie: a rectangle of cereal box cardboard folded gray side out, fashioned into a rough envelope visibly held together with masking tape. The words “Local Jazz” are helpfully scrawled on the front in Sharpie. This group includes bassist Robert Nash, New Orleans rhythm alchemist Simon Lott and noted trumpeter Rex Richardson, but its pianist chooses to remain anonymous, adding to the fun.
The real reason to drop $3.99 on this informal artifact is the two extended versions of the same untitled song therein. The first is a 14-minute groove where the trumpeter is allowed to slowly come out of his shell and then retreat as an extended wandering piano figure takes the wheel. By the end, the haze becomes a dense fog with the band staying close as to not get lost. The second is a condensed take (at eight minutes, maybe this is the mix for the single) where the hypnotic structure of the tune becomes the focus, with Nash’s bass slowly climbing the ladder of Lott’s percussion and Richardson’s trumpet daringly hanging off the rungs and the mystery pianist reporting the story from the ground. This CD is available at the Compact Disc Store at 684 Jefferson Hwy.
Essential Tracks: Both of them.
