Bradford Hayes – The Jazz Life – Intensity Music

by | Aug 18, 2007 | Jazz CD Reviews | 0 comments

Bradford Hayes – The Jazz Life – Intensity Music 837101 26792 2, 56:12 ****:

(Bradford Hayes, sax; Duane Eubanks, trumpet; Cornell McGhee, trombone; Michael Cochrane, piano; Calvin Jones, bass; Greg Searvance, drums)

We receive many self-produced jazz CDs here, and it’s a pleasure to find a few of them which rise above the others as genuinely worthwhile, listenable efforts: This is one of them. The entire production speaks care and thoughtfulness in performances, recording, and packaging. This is not Bradford’s first CD – that is probably part of the reason.  We don’t learn much about the saxist except that he worked with African drum virtuoso Olatunji. That provided the stimulus for the first of the five original tunes by Hayes on the disc.

His My Sons is a lovely ballad, and Bianca’s Dance has a Brazilian feel in its energetic rhythms.  The extended treatment of Benny Golson’s beautiful tune Whisper Not is one of the best versions of this classic I’ve heard. There’s also a rarely-heard Wayne Shorter tune, Black Nile, and the standard The Nearness of You. Sonics are extremely present and impactful.  If the usual suspect don’t have this CD, try the performer’s web site: www.BradfordHayes.com

TrackList: Tunji’s Blues, Carolyn, Black Nile, My Sons, The Coaster, The Desert, Bianca’s Dance, The Nearness of You, Whisper Not, One Little Indian, Holistic Invention.

 – John Henry

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