Buddy Collette - Jazz for Thousand Oaks (CD)

All Music Guide

There are far too few Buddy Collette recordings on this good Earth, so any could be termed an event. This in-concert performance at ~the Civic Arts Plaza Forum Theatre in Thousand Oaks, California unites Collette in a octet with like-minded straight ahead jazz musicians he has collaborated with for decades. They include fellow multi-instrumentalist Sam Most, flugelhornist Al Aarons, trombonist George Bohanon, guitarist Al Viola, pianist Ronnell Bright, bassist Richard Simon and drummer Ndugu Leon Chancler, all top notch. Of the four Collette originals, all well over 10 minutes, there are two sambas and two swingers, with melody lines bookending extensive solo passages from all members present. The light, breezy Brazilian beats of "Veda" and the title cut give sway to a relaxed mood where no one is rushing their statements so the next solo can happen. The former piece is trombone led, Bohanon serene and placid while digging into the melody, horns gently supporting solos from Most's Getz-like tenor, Collette's legendary flute legerdermain and Bright's astounding phrasings. The latter is a simpler melody, Most on alto, Buddy on tenor with tuneful flugelhorn from Aarons, Bohanon quoting "Get Happy," and Simon's bass replying "Well, You Needn't." A rich melody on the mid-tempo swinger "Andre" is informed by Collette's alto, and accented again by Most's tenor and the harmonically luscious guitar solo of Viola. Bright sings on two selections his wistful bossa "Sea Mist" and the ballad "Talk About Loving You." He's a very good singer inferring some Mel Torme-like affectations, and as a pianist he is unrivaled, nay generally unsung. Ellington's tuneful melody "Villes Ville Is The Place, Man" opens the set with everybody getting a spot, simple horns lines buoying each soloist, while the finale, Collette's "Hunt Peck" has what many fans really crave, Collette and Most on flutes, singing in melodic rhapsody or planting their solos firmly in your mind, leaving no doubt as to their utter mastery. The group also does some nice trading of fours with Chancler, and Aarons picks up his trumpet for this lone offering, with Simon's appropos quoting of "Merrily We Roll Along." Buddy Collette, as multi-dimensional a musician as there has ever been in jazz, truly does it all on this excellent 70+ minute document of his artistry. As woodwind and reed icon, bandleader, composer, first call studio man and vaunted teacher in L.A. schools, he is a hero to this writer, and no doubt countless others, in his home and around the world. Highly recommended for cognoscenti but especially those of you who are not hip to one of the true greats of authentic jazz expressionism.

- Michael G. Nastos, All Music Guide