Release Date: 18 December 2008
Label: Spartacus Records
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 640999903922
Genres: Jazz Contemporary
Description
Tommy Smith, Scotland's premier jazz saxophonist has made a serious jazz album which takes the basic material of familiar Christmas staples and builds them into much more elaborate harmonic structures. Smith's excellent quartet is a working band rather than an ad hoc gathering, and this is obvious in the tight-knit empathy of their ensemble playing. The rich harmonies and shifting time signatures of the music keep everyone on their toes and make rewarding launching pads for solo improvisation. Slow tunes such as "Silent Night" or "I'll be Home for Christmas" provide further evidence of what a lyrical and expressive ballad player the saxophonist now is. And, the players dig deeply into the uptempo material, transforming chestnuts such as "We Three Kings" into inventive and swinging jazz excursions.
Personnel: Tommy Smith (tenor saxophone), Gareth Williams (piano), Orlando le Fleming (bass), Sebastiaan de Krom (drums)
Tracklisting
Scottish National Jazz Orchestra
Tommy Smith Quartet
Tommy Smith
Tommy Smith
Tommy Smith & Brian Kellock
Tommy Smith & Scottish National Jazz Orchestra
Tommy Smith
Tommy Smith & Scottish National Jazz Orchestra
Tommy Smith Quartet
