Norman Hedman

Percussionist Norman Hedman's medium-sized combo is well named; it plays an engaging blend of salsa, Latin jazz, bomba, samba, and just about any other warm-climate dance idiom you can think of. The flute occasionally has a hard time getting in tune with the brass but, other than that, the sound is lush, sweet, and gently, percolatingly funky – less a musical stew than a fruit salad. Hedman's influences include Cal Tjader and Armando Peraza, and while he also owes a clear debt to the big salsa bands, he deliberately avoids overwhelming the listener with too many layers of percussive polyrhythm.

Brass Construction continued to avoid the scrap heap, turning out another better-than-expected album. There were two more good singles in "Walkin' the Line" and "We Can Work It Out," and the production, arrangements, instrumental support, and vocals were all more inspired than they had been in the past.

Chico Freeman & Brainstorm - Sweet Explosion (1990) {In + Out Records 7010-2}
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© 1990 In+Out Records | 7010-2
Jazz / Post Bop / Progressive Jazz

A collection of some of the best numbers played by Brainstorm when the band made its highly successful debut at London's Ronnie Scott s Club! One of the most innovative and engaged small groups in contemporary improvised music. Brainstorm presents 74 electrifying minutes of inspired and wide-ranging music. As Ed Hazel has observed, Chico Freeman's style combines the energy and wide leaps of John Coltrane's later work with a classic conception of form and a strong sense of swing.

Chico Freeman & Arthur Blythe - Luminous and The Unspoken Word: Live at Ronnie Scott's (2000) {Carlsberg JHDE204 rec 1989-1993}
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© 1989-93, 2000 Ronnie Scott's Jazz House / Carlsberg | JHDE 204
Jazz / Post Bop / Mainstream Jazz / Saxophone

I bought this twoffer after I got acquainted with the music and playing of A Blythe. I'm glad I did. Both discs are documents of some very fine playing by all of the musicians that took part in the gigs recorded at the Ronny Scott's on two separate occassions some twenty or so years ago. The playing is immaculate and the sound superb. If you've been to the club you'll know that the interior is acoustically very well treated and that more than pays off here. There is not a grain of digital harshness in the sound, all is very 'analogue' and that really compliments the music and the atmosphere.