Few cities contributed as many players to the front ranks of hard bop as Detroit, a scene commemorated in this 1960 meeting of Motor City alumni. Donald Byrd and Pepper Adams regularly co-led a quintet at the time, and the taut unisons and effective contrasts between Byrd's clear, slightly subdued trumpet and Adams's bristling, gravelly baritone continue here. They're joined on Motor City Scene by four more of Detroit's most valuable exports. Pianist Tommy Flanagan and guitarist Kenny Burrell were already among the most thoughtful and tasteful players in jazz, Paul Chambers added harmonic subtlety to his powerful walking bass lines, and Louis Hayes contributes sparking drumming. Flanagan creates a perfect setting for Byrd's ballad playing on Hoagy Carmichael's "Star Dust," while Adams repeatedly shows how he was the first player to make the baritone fly through bop changes with an uncanny mix of gravity and lightness. The group also pays tribute to Detroit's first family of bop, delivering a hard-swinging rendition of Thad Jones's "Bitty Ditty." --Stuart Broomer
Motor City Scene,Donald Byrd & Pepper Adams,Rhino / Wea,Hard Bop,Jazz,Jazz Music,Pop
Jazz Music:
- Music for Commercials [Import]
- Mustang!
- New West
- Once Upon A Time
- Over That Wave
- Piano Prodigy [Enhanced]
- Pictures
- Play Bill Evans
- Praise
- Professor Bebop
Jazz Music
Pickin' on Def Leppard: A Bluegrass Tribute
Very Best of Mediterranean [Import]