NEW RELEASE – GREG BURROWS

Greg Burrows tells a subtly swinging traditional story.

Picking interesting tunes is a talent that is not to be neglected. There are so many great ones out there besides Body And Soul and Love For Sale. The debut album of drummer Greg Burrows, Tell Your Story, includes a couple of good ones. It stems from 2018 but the 58-year old drummer recharges the battery of promotion while the jazz life picks up full of peaks and throughs.

Burrows, based in the Bronx in New York City and collaborator of pianists Bill Charlap and Kevin Hays, is assisted by fellow NYC cats with reputable pedigrees. Pianist Dave Childs worked with Jimmy Heath, James Moody and Bill Watrous, among others. Veteran bassist Harvie S was an ECM fixture in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Bob DeVos played guitar with many straightforward artists including Fathead Newman, Stanley Turrentine, Greg Osby, Ron McClure and is an organ combo specialist that worked with Charles Earland, Gene Ludwig, Trudy Pitts, Jimmy McGriff, Joey DeFrancesco and Akiko Tsuruga.

These guys don’t engage in exercises on Muscle Beach. Their drive is laid-back, their format unpretentious and they get the maximum result. Take for instance the seldom-played Sometime Ago by Argentinian pianist Sergio Mihanovich, performed many moons ago by Bill Evans, which holds attention by the subtle rhythmic tension between Burrows and Harvey S. and, to boot, is embellished with the tart, lyrical flügelhorn of Jamie Finegan and buttery trombone of John Fumasoli. Then there’s their lovely, lithely swinging rendition on the late great Harold Mabern’s beautiful melody Waltzing Westward. Cole Porter’s Everything I Love is marked by light-footed but earthy and pleasantly quirky piano playing by Childs, who reminds a little, amen to that, of unsung giant Jimmy Rowles.

As covers go, the band takes on the well-known Thelonious Monk composition Hackensack, a feature for Harvie S, who impressively lets off steam. Significantly, Tell Your Story is recorded in close proximity of the legendary Rudy van Gelder studios in Hackensack and Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

Burrows throws some good punches in DeVos’s Latin-tinged Sixth Sense, guising as a Carribean percussionist on his alternatively tuned snare and succinctly stimulating soloists. The catchy blues line Blue Print features composer Bob DeVos, who is tasteful throughout on this session and here, full of crystal clear ideas, cool blues phrasing and with a punchy and crystalline tone, outshines himself. Imagine yourself in a little dimly-lit, packed club, relaxing in your seat and enjoying straightforward jazz sounds like those on Tell Your Story, glowing, inviting and meaningful. Very enjoyable night on the town.