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While it is unlikely ever again to have a fan base on par with its 1950s-\u201960s heyday, hard bop jazz remains very much alive. And even with all manner of recording technology advancements, the way to hear hard bop is live and in person. There\u2019s a thrilling interactivity that comes with experiencing the music as it\u2019s created, on the fly and in real time.<\/p>\n
But the next best thing is a well-recorded live album documenting such a performance. And that\u2019s exactly what Live in Racine<\/i> is: a six-tune set of inventive, spirited instrumental jazz from a six-piece band that draws upon Art Blakey\u2019s Jazz Messengers for inspiration. As its name telegraphs, BakerzMillion is co-led by trombonist Andy Baker and pianist Steve Million. This set, recorded live in February 2018 is an enthralling audio document.<\/p>\n
Rather than leaning into standards and using them as a creative jumping-off point, BakerzMillion serves up an all-original set featuring for tunes form Baker and two from Million. The compositions are true to the aesthetic and spirit of classic hard bop, and the interplay among the musicians is crackling with electricity.<\/p>\n
The lengthy opener, \u201cBluesish\u201d showcases Million\u2019s playing, but everyone else shines as well. \u201cBay Steps\u201d is mellow and contemplative, and features some lovely and understated soloing from trumpeter Eric Jacobsen. \u201cEisenbleu\u201d is a bossa nova-flavored showcase for Jim Galloreto\u2019s saxophones. \u201cSoftly\u201d reprises thee subtle and quiet approach. But the splashy \u201cSecond Hand Smoking\u201d leans hard into the groove. And the six-piece presents itself as a (small) big band on the swinging closer, \u201cState of the Estate.\u201d A fine set start to finish, Live in Racine<\/i> is sure to delight hard bop enthusiasts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
While it is unlikely ever again to have a fan base on par with its 1950s-\u201960s heyday, hard bop jazz remains very much alive. And even with all manner of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23785,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40,42,49,65],"tags":[4947,660],"class_list":["post-23784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-instrumental","category-jazz","category-new-release","category-review","tag-bakerzmillion","tag-delmark","cat-40-id","cat-42-id","cat-49-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23784"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23786,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23784\/revisions\/23786"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}