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Gramophone Jazz Good CD Guide
 Jim Snidero's decade as the main alto
soloist in Toshiko Akiyoshi's big band has turned him into a robust
and eloquent player whose heart is steeped in the Blakey tradition.
This was the last of his three recording sessions with trumpeter, Brian.
Lynch (Snidero now works with the equally imposing Tom Harrell) and
the power and range of the partnership gives this wide-ranging session
its appeal. The opening fast tempo variation on Speak Low, which Snidero
calls Enforcement, has him at his flag-waving best with a fast and ideas-packed
solo, matched by a fiery one from the trumpeter. The ballad treatments
of Mal Waldron's Soul Eyes and Shorter's Infant Eyes show Snidero's
maturity and these are both outstanding performances. The Blakey feel
is heightened by the drumming of Smith who, while not emulating Art
in any way, keeps a similar control of the band by replacing Blakey's
thunder with a busier precision which places more emphasis on the top
of the drum kit. The piano role of Benny Green is restrained when it
needs to be and very buoyant elsewhere, with the expected worthy solos.-
©
Gramophone
Publications Limited 1997
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Down Beat - 6/98
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Beat- 10/97
Jazz
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New
York Post
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