Search - The Lounge Art Ensemble, Peter Erskine, Bob Sheppard :: Lava Jazz

What a find!

05/17/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Peter Erskine's Lounge Art Ensemble is a group of fine musicians individually (Erskine [drums] eg Weather Report and lots of sessions; Bob Sheppard [saxes] session blower; Dave Carpenter [bass] session player usually on electric bass or guitar, but upright here). On "Lava Jazz" they captured the spontaneity of a small jazz combo in a '60s jazz club (Erskine effectively plays a 'cocktail drumkit'). Standard jazz tunes redone and renamed highlight the set including "Pesos" [Pennies from Heaven], "I Hear a Rap CD [I Hear a Rhapsody], "Jung at Heart" [Young at Heart], "Pretty Toes' {Perdido]... you get the idea. All the songs are well done, lyrical and tight (considering the spontaneity) but not constraining (plenty of room for solos). Everytime I put this in the disk player, it stays there for weeks. My favorite tune is the"Five Z's"-- a real toe tapper. Erskine's drumming is prominent throughout [driving, but not overbearing and tasteful] and Sheppard's open, full tone on the saxes is pleasing. I'd like to pigeon-hole it as simialr to some other group, but I can't. It is a guarenteed pleaser (trust me, I've got hundreds of jazz CDs is this is one of my top five or ten)."