Bman's Blues Report

  I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Music For The People , by Saul Dautch , and it really hits the spot. Opening with Duke Pearson 's, Hello Bright Sunflower , the band is in the groove. Opening with Noah Halpern delivering the melody on trumpet, and Hank Allen-Barfield on drum, cool intro. Saul Dautch on bari sax lays down the first solo lines and he's swinging with deep rich bari tones. Halpern follows back with a fluid interlude of his own. I literally was just looking at the internet an hour ago to see when pianist Miki Yamanaka may be touring and here she is on this release. I love her spirit and swinging punctuation is excellent.  Strong opener. Odious Din has a quick pace and distinctive drive. Halpern really opens up on trumpet with excellent phrasing and Allen-Barfield and Yamanaka work a hard line with Leager on bass. Dautch really digs in on bari delivering deep, warm phrasing and Yamanaka really shows what she's got with vibrant ...