Title - Grove’s Groove
Artist - Michael Dease
For those unaware, the legendary trumpeter Roy Hargrove is usually – and justly – depicted as a generation-defining voice and a radiant, troubled genius.
What gets lost in that characterization is Hargrove’s equally vital role as a mentor for younger musicians who shared his deeply felt commitment to exploring the full spectrum of jazz and in carrying the blazing torch of tradition determinedly forward.
Among those whose life and career were touched by Hargrove’s influence is the multi-instrumentalist and composer Michael Dease. With his enthralling new album Grove’s Groove – the second on which the acclaimed trombonist focuses solely on the baritone saxophone – pays tribute, says thanks, and bids farewell to one of modern jazz’s most iconic figures.
From the exotic Middle Eastern overture on the opening title track to the climactic “Out of a Dream,” which could be the orchestral end credit score to an epic movie, Selah introduces a major talent who takes cues from such jazz piano greats as Oscar Peterson, Chick Corea, Art Tatum, Errol Garner and Bill Evans, but has developed his own style on his new release.
Due out August 23rd, 2024 via Le Coq Records, Grove’s Groove convenes a band full of Hargrove alumni, friends and devotees. Dease, trombonist Steve Davis, trumpeter Terell Stafford, bassist Rodney Whitaker and drummer Ulysses Owens Jr. player with Hargrove or were close to him.
Only pianist Bill Cunliffe and guitarist/vocalist Jocelyn Gould lack a direct connection, though as a former student of Dease’s at Michigan State University Gould represents the next generation in the chain of tutelage passed on from the trumpeter.
1. Grove’s Groove
2. Tea for Two
3. Seiko Time
4. Minor Funk
5. Never Let Me Go
6. The Viper
7. Decisions
8. Father Figure
9. Broadway
This dutifully sublime new recording opens on the spaciously luxuriant title track Grove’s Groove and the gloriously elegant classic Tea for Two, and then brings us the melodious Seiko Time and the drumtastic, finger-snapping, foot-tapping Minor Funk.
And then we get the sweepingly decadent Never Let Me Go (which Dease has revealed was the trumpeter’s favorite ballad) and the lushly Hammond-fed The Viper, and they are in turn backed by the simplistically ornate Decisions, the album rounding out on the engaging Father Figure (the title track of Hargrove’s 2016 album), closing on the rousing Broadway.
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