Joe La Barbera - World Travelers (2024) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

This nine song romp held an upbeat tempo throughout, with glorious changes; most were subtle and flowed seamlessly. Others were sizable bursts or drop downs, as they were intended to be. The quintet beautifully honored each song. They played in service to the music, with no showboating or competitive nonsense. They all have extensive jazz vocabularies, which led to rich conversation and improvisation. Somehow Sheppard continues to fly under the radar, but no doubt he is one of the world's finest jazz saxophonists. Playing both tenor and soprano on this night, he once again shone in solos and made everyone else sound better. Not everyone can do that, but Sheppard always does. Jenkins is cut from the same cloth. Their exchanges were exquisite, complementing each other as opposed to pushing each other. Cunliffe manages to have quiet but strong impressionism. He plays in a trio quite often so, naturally, and most wonderfully, he brings that mindset. This brings two important elements to the ensemble. When the horn section steps out and they play in trio, Cunliffe is, obviously, way into his element. When in quintet, and it is Cunliffe's moment to shine, he pounces on it like a hungry bear. The best of both worlds.

TRACKLIST

1. Joe La Barbera - Blue Notes
2. Joe La Barbera - Landmarks Along The Way
3. Joe La Barbera - Lake Erie
4. Joe La Barbera - Barcelona
5. Joe La Barbera - You Know I Care
6. Joe La Barbera - It's a Big Wide Wonderful Word
7. Joe La Barbera - Simone
8. Joe La Barbera - Soultrane
9. Joe La Barbera - Grand Central



Thanks to the Original customer.