NEW RELEASE – JACOB WENDT

Vinyl release hits hard bop’s bull’s eye.  

Wendt says: “We played together all in the same room, without isolation or headphones. Very much how a session would have been with Rudy van Gelder in Hackensack. I think that’s the best way to record music and get an authentic performance from the musicians. Listening, watching and breathing together in the same space.”

“We used the RVG sound as a blueprint, but made some ‘modern’ changes. I liked the idea of the horns being panned to either side, but where normally Rudy would have trumpet on the left and sax on the right, we reversed that. Also, they are not ‘hard’ panned to the either side. We have a more modest split. That way the feeling of opposite side horns is there, but it’s not as aggressive. And I kept the drums to the right, which is also a Rudy thing. And than bass and piano in the center.”  

Wendt clearly outdid himself. Wendt’s excellent quintet vividly tackles a diverse program of tunes that reflect a love for classic hard bop, notably Horace Silver, providing sassy, blues-drenched compositions with crafty harmonic twists and turns, like Silver Street and Sycamore Stomp.

Wendt’s got more up his sleeve, courtesy of the breezy Benny Golson-ish Park Bench Dream and moody, stormy No Shortcuts (Shorter Street: straightahead), a killer tune that is marked by heady call and response patterns between trumpeter Harry Ostrander and tenor saxophonist Jimmy Emerzian.

Both horn men spice up Gin & Platonic (old-school jazz wordplay as well!) with collective improvisational drops of lemon and tads of cinnamon and chili pepper, while pianist Doug Carter has his finest Jimmy Rowles-ish hour on this lovely, brushes-underlined mid-tempo work.

Cretaceous is a monster blues tune, kickstarted by a bass rumble that rattles the nerves of the monkeys that introduced Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssee to the bewildered audience. Gritty companion to the album’s boogaloo and ballad excursions, though you would have love to see those horns fly off the rails, free-for-all-ish, on a tune like this.

Too much asked perhaps. Anyway, Wendt has got his Louis Hayes and Billy Higgins down pat and a swinging band at his command. Silver Street is unashamedly retro but not a museum piece – in fact, cherish albums like this, thoroughly rooted and keeping jazz at a most welcome accessible level. It’s a high-end production and an allround project with a sparkling (very!) glossy sleeve and extensive liner notes, the whole beautiful shebang.

So get off your butt and hurry to the record store!

Find a list of records stores on Jacob’s website here: https://www.jacobwendt.com/hayden-records

Or go to Bandcamp to buy digital copy or vinyl here: https://jacobwendt.bandcamp.com/album/silver-street