Because
Harvey Mason
has appeared so frequently as a sideman on lots of
smooth jazz
dates, one tends to think of him solely within that genre, even though his roots are in straight-ahead
jazz
. This rare date as a leader features the drummer leading a series of 11 different piano-bass-drums trios, primarily in
post-bop
,
bop
or
hard bop
settings. His arrangement of
"Bernie's Tune"
is very refreshing, utilizing reoccurring displaced rhythm behind
Kenny Barron
and
Ron Carter
. The magic continues with
Chick Corea
Dave Carpenter
in their creative rendition of
"If I Should Lose You."
Victor Feldman
's less familiar
"So Near, So Far"
features
Fred Hersch
Eddie Gomez
, though the expected influence of the late
Bill Evans
is minimal. But elder statesman
Hank Jones
steals the spotlight with his elegant interpretation of
"Tess,"
a tune that was brand new to him;
Mason
Jones
' longtime bassist
George Mraz
joins him. Some of the other participating musicians for this project include
Monty Alexander
Charlie Haden
Cedar Walton
Mulgrew Miller
Herbie Hancock
Brad Mehldau
Bob James
Dave Grusin
.
's informative liner notes not only describe how each take came together in the studio but add background about his relationship to each musician or what appealed to him about each individual's playing. The only oversight on this terrific release is the inadvertent omission of track-by-track composer credits, though a few of them are included within
's commentary. ~ Ken Dryden