Tha Go 'Round

Amazon.com
The B Sharp Jazz Quartet is that rarity in today's jazz world of pick-up bands and all-star projects--an acoustic combo that actually plays together, week in, week out, in the studio and on the road. When it comes to developing a true rapport and creating arrangements more ambitious than a sequence of solos, there's no substitute for actually sharing the same bandstand night after night. All that time together pays off on the L.A. foursome's album, Tha Go 'Round, which boasts the invigorating and all-too-rare sound of four musicians playing as a band rather than simply waiting for their turns to solo.

Drummer Herb Graham Jr. and saxophonist Randall Willis co-founded the group 10 years ago; keyboardist Rodney Lee has been on board since 1995, bassist Osama Afifi since 1996. When one of the four does step forward for a solo, his three bandmates refuse to fall into the background with simple accompaniment; instead the supporting cast pokes and prods at the soloist with ever shifting beats and counterpoint.

The album contains interpretations of Thelonious Monk's "Brilliant Corners" and Charlie Parker's "Confirmation," and the B Sharp Jazz Quartet gives these well-worn bop standards an urgent immediacy. On the eight tunes written or cowritten by Graham, the band proves it can shake up these historical precedents with discordant harmonies and funky rhythms. --Geoffrey Himes

Tha Go 'Round,B Sharp Jazz Quartet,Mama Foundation,Jazz,Jazz Music,Pop,Post-Bop

Jazz Music: