Platform - Chris Lightcap's Bigmouth

Bassist Chris Lightcap brings together a heavy hitting modern jazz band called Bigmouth featuring Tony Malaby and Chris Cheek on tenor saxophone, Andrew D'Angelo alto saxophone, Craig Taborn on keyboards and Gerald Cleaver on drums. The band gets a really nice and unique sound with horns harmonizing together on some tracks and playing against each other on others. Taborn uses Fender Rhodes electric piano to excellent effect building different shadings and textures that add atmosphere to the music. "Platform" has a cool electric piano opening with a multi-horn melody. Graceful saxophone builds up to a raw toned tenor solo. "Silvertone" has open bass and drums and horns building a slightly melancholy feel. A saxophone builds to an aching and emotional solo before the rest of the horns join and build to an exciting finish. "Year of the Rooster" slows to a mellow mysterious feel, making the music moody and shimmering like light diffused through early morning mist. Taborn shifts to acoustic piano abetted by thick bass on "The Clutch" laying the groundwork for intricate horn soloing. Medium tempo harmonizing saxophones usher in "Two Face" bobbing and weaving through the music before building to an energetic and freer conclusion. "Deluxe Version" has an intricate improvisation featuring a subtle, shaded electric piano solo. Cool sounding saxophones riff hard and strong creating a propulsive swing feel. "Fuzz" wraps things up in a potent fashion with strong bass and drums, and the saxophones spewing notes in an energetic fashion. This was a very well done disc and is easily recommended, the band makes for a interesting sound world and the compositions and improvisations are consistently compelling. Deluxe - amazon.com


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