Dark Blue

Back in 1997 when Introducing Jim Rotondi announced that a major new trumpeter star was on the ascent, few could have predicted how important and prolific Rotondi would become to the mainstream landscape. A foremost stylist in the lineage of Freddie Hubbard and Wood Shaw, Rotondi quickly proved he had absorbed the legacy, only to jettison imitation in favor of innovation. Working regularly with his own groups and the hard bop ensemble One For All, Rotondi was a major force in New York before heading to Austria to teach in 2008.

The friendship of two men becomes tested when they both fall for the same woman.

Lt. Franta Slama is a top pilot in the Czech Air Force who is assigned to train a promising young flier, Karel Vojtisek, and they soon become friends. When Nazi Germany invades Czechoslovakia in 1939, they both reject the authority …

Even though musicians may come from divergent places, it is amazing to find that many have the same proclivities when it comes to musical tendencies and taste. The relationship between Detroit born baritone saxophonist and bass clarinetist Alex Harding and Romanian pianist Lucian Ban is one example, in this case two musician from such different places, coalesce around the power of the blues. Their new recording, Dark Blue, is a testament to their musical and brotherly bond.

Mainstream, straight-ahead, well-played jazz is alive and well, courtesy of pianist Rob Schneiderman and his very fine quintet of Ralph Moore (tenor sax), Brian Lynch (trumpet), Peter Washington (bass), and Lewis Nash (drums). They collectively coax and conjure the feeling of the 1950s' Blue Note-Riverside hard-to-post bop sound that remains timeless and forever swinging. The leader wrote five of these nine selections with this era in mind, while also recognizing that being a modernist doesn't necessarily mean throwing traditions overboard. While unspectacular, Schneiderman is the glue here, and supports his band with a foundation that allows his excellent mates to flourish under this balanced system.