Search - Eddie Marshall :: Holy Mischief

Easy to Listen to, But Not Simple

Karl W. Nehring | Ostrander, OH USA | 07/29/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Reference Recordings, long known to audiophiles for its recordings of (mostly) classical music in audiophile sound quality, has recently launched a project of helping some really small labels get their recordings some notice by making at least the audiophile community aware of them. Eddie Marshall is a veteran San Francisco-based drummer who also plays the alto recorder on a couple of cuts; he is supported on this date by Paul Nagel on piano, Jeff Chambers on bass, Kenny Brooks on tenor and soprano saxophone, and on one cut by Jeff Cressman (who also served as the recording engineer) on trombone.



Of the nine cuts on this CD, eight are by Marshall and one is by Nagel. The music is easy to listen to, but not simple. Marshall drives the music along from his drumkit, but neither the arrangements nor the engineering tend to spotlight his work; this sounds like a genuine group effort by some earnest musicians who enjoy working with each other.



The weakest part of the whole CD, at least to these ears, is Marshall's recorder playing--not that it was bad, but rather than it did not seem up to the level of the rest of the musicianship exhibited by the group. (I suspect, however, that his recorder is a big hit when the group performs live, because of its surprise value.) The sound quality is good, with plenty (but not an overbearing amount) of midbass energy and no trace of edginess in the treble regions."