Over the years,
Curtis Fuller has recorded the majority of his albums in New York City. But when the veteran trombonist visited Chicago for
the Chicago Jazz Festival in 2003, he joined forces with several Windy City musicians (including
Karl Montzka on piano,
Larry Gray or
Stewart Miller on bass, and
Tim Davis on drums) and recorded
Up Jumped Spring for
Bob Koester's Chicago-based
Delmark label. Trumpeter
Brad Goode (who was a fixture on the Chi-Town
jazz scene before moving to Cincinnati in 1997) is also on board, as is singer
Jacey Falk (who produced the album).
Fuller (who was 68 when he recorded
Up Jumped Spring) was one of
Art Blakey's
Jazz Messengers in his younger days, and not surprisingly, a strong
Jazz Messengers influence asserts itself on these
hard bop and
post-bop performances -- the
Jazz Messengers influence is impossible to miss on hard-swinging performances of
John Coltrane's
"Equinox" and
Herbie Hancock's
"Cantaloupe Island," as well as
Duke Ellington's
"In a Mellow Tone" and
Benny Golson's
"Whisper Not." Goode, thankfully, is featured extensively, and
Falk (a promising
jazz singer with a strong
R&B influence) has a memorable spot on
Jessie Mae Robinson's
"Black Night" (the only vocal offering on this mostly instrumental disc). One wishes that instead of paying so much attention to overdone
standards,
Fuller had surprised us with some lesser-known gems on this CD -- a song doesn't have to be a
standard to be great. Nonetheless, the trombonist is in fine form throughout the album -- he never fails to sound inspired and focused -- and
Up Jumped Spring is a welcome addition to his catalog. ~ Alex Henderson
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