Pat Martino With Gil Goldstein WE Are Together Again

Pat Martino has released a duo album with Grammy Award-winning keyboard player/arranger Gil Goldstein. This is also a re-performance of their classic 1976 album "We'll Be Together Again." With that in mind, Gil dared to use a Fender Rhodes. The sound it produces has a healing taste that will soothe not only jazz fans but everyone. The compositions included are mainly famous jazz songs that are popular in Japan in response to offers from Japan, but also include Pat's originals.

Willis Jackson was a tough-toned tenor who came to fame as a honker and screamer with Cootie Williams's big band in the late '40s. Although he calmed down his style a bit through the years, he always has a passionate sound and an accessible style best heard on blues, ballads and standards. This is a CD reissue of a 1978 session that features Jackson with guitarist Pat Martino, organist Carl Wilson and a supportive rhythm section. Although the Barbara Streisand-associated "Evergreen" (heard in two versions) and "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" may not seem like the best material for the tenor, he uplifts the songs…

Guitarist Pat Martino's second recording as a leader finds him essentially playing advanced bop. His quintet (with Joe Farrell on tenor and flute, pianist Cedar Walton, bassist Ben Tucker and drummer Walter Perkins) really roars on an uptempo version of "Minority" and is diverse enough to come up with meaningful statements on four of Martino's originals.