Jeremy Pelt
Released in January 2011
Five-Star Review Jazzwise Magazine
Jazzwise Top 10 Releases of 2011
YouTube: https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kuSvo1t9kxBn4H8iCa3aCQSvrQV1r_oEM
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/2IrH41AJBgxueKvjI3K2w7?si=iDMsuN9PSrCDa1E-cfgn0Q
About:
The Talented Mr. Pelt is just the kind of album one thinks of when it comes to how Jazz is supposed to be: cool, confident, swinging and just a little mysterious. Pelt’s group is that rarest of all things in jazz, a working band, and the familiarity and communication that come from extensive time spent playing together is evident. All the players are among the foremost 30-something neo-bop players in Jazz today giving the group an all-star-type reputation with a well-rehearsed sound that comes only with familiarity and countless gigs. Pelt’s own playing has earned accolades for his staggering virtuosity, which has elicited comparisons to trumpet icons like Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard, as well as for his studious, cerebral approach to the music.
Track Listing:
1. Pandora’s Box (Jeremy Pelt) 4:27
2. All My Thoughts Are of You (Jeremy Pelt) 6:34
3. Paradise Lost (Anthony Wonsey) 7:19
4. When the Time Is Right (Jeremy Pelt) 5:36
5. Pulse 9:06
6. In Love Again (Bill Schluger) 5:57
7. Only (Jeremy Pelt) 5:36
8. David and Goliath (Jeremy Pelt) 7:54
Personnel:
Jeremy Pelt: trumpet
JD Allen: tenor sax
Danny Grissett: piano
Dwayne Burno: bass
Gerald Cleaver: drums
Recorded September 15, 2010, at Van Gelder Recording Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Produced by Jeremy Pelt
Assisted by Don Sickler
Executive Producer: Joe Fields
Engineered, mixed & mastered by Rudy Van Gelder
Assisted by Maureen Sickler
Photography by Guinara Khamatova
Designed by Keiji Obata
Review:
A year ago, Pelt’s previous CD Men of Honor (my record of the year for 2010) was the first brand-new recording that this writer has ever awarded five stars. This new one is, arguably, even better and probably contains the leader’s best yet recorded work. His solos – thoughtful, always harmonically and rhythmically challenging – seem to reach an even higher level of creativity than usual. Bassist Burno, in his informative heartfelt liner notes, confirms what I wrote about Men of Honor. That this is a band not an all-star pick-up group. No clash of egos, but a solid commitment to stay together because of their mutual friendship and respect and the strength of the music they make. On this, their third CD as a group, Jeremy himself has written almost all the material, with the exception of a seldom remembered Peggy Lee-Cy Coleman ballad called ‘I’m In Love Again’ (which mainly features heart-breaking flugelhorn) and one of the album highlights, an unexpectedly intriguing, floating composition basically in 3/4 by pianist Anthony Wonsey entitled ‘Paradise Lost’, which towards the end has a simply superb drum solo by Gerald Cleaver. There’s also a new version of Myron Walden’s incredibly moody, pedal permeated ‘Pulse’, first recorded (sounding very different) by its author a decade ago, on which Burno created a definitive bass line which has remained constant ever since and recently appeared again on Myron’s tenor album, Momentum. Pelt’s five originals are all in different veins, full of harmonic subtleties (like the mysterious Harmon-muted ‘All My Thoughts Are of You’) and rhythmic tension (‘When The Time is Right’). ‘Only’ has further interesting take-off points and terrific JD tenor and Grissett piano, while the closer ‘David and Goliath’ is their live set high spot, with exciting interactive group and solo work. As Burno says: “We slay Goliath every night and have fun doing it.” If history is kind and just, it will remember this Jeremy Pelt Quintet and its collective members as one of the most important and creative bands to emerge in jazz since Miles’ mid-1960s group. A great recording by a band that is THAT good!
Tony Hall (Jazzwise)
