This Is Book's Music

Eastern Standard Time (In The Groove/Allegro) begins with a soothing and cool flute solo, and for me I’m sold right there. There’s more to be told and played, and The Reese Project (Aaron Walker on drums, Bobby Brewer on guitar, Laurie Reese on cello, and Tom Reese on flute, with special guest Johnny “Brabo” Acevedo on percussion) take a listen on a visit to a jazz concert at a park on abeautiful Saturday afternoon, all you have to do is pack up a lunch and spend awhile there.

The music on this, split evently between original material and covers, sound like some of the best jazz that came out on Verve, Blue Note, or Atlantic in the 1960′s, when songs were different from one another and yet you could hear a cohesiveness that can’t be denied (the album cover gives a slight nod to Atlantic albums from the 60′s, including the use of a similar looking STEREO motif). Tom Reese and Brewer go around in circles doing their respective solos, and with Laurie Reese taking the position as the group’s bassist through the cello, you’re hearing creative minds at work, doing things within the song that makes you wish they were two to four minutes longer, it’s for the musical explorist in you.

One of the more touching songs on this album is “Moment In Blue”, written by guitarist Brewer for his wife, who passed away as they were putting together this album. Brewer plays a guitar solo that shows a lot of grace and elegance, and then when Tom Reese plays the flute, it almost sounds like the kind of meditations Herbie Mann used to do on many of his albums in the late 60′s and early 70′s. Laurie Reese does a cello solo that just pulls at the heartstrings, only for Tom Reese to come back with a solo that ties everything together. As the song comes to a close, they all play together before playing the last note, and one finds it heart to hold back from tearing up. The spirits are lifted with “Black Orpheus” and Tom Reese’s own “Altoid Junkie,” which either means he has halitosis or… who knows what it means, but to have a song named “Altoid Junkie” and have it sound fun and serious at the same time, who cares what it’s called. You may want to dress down in black, sport a beret, and wave your jazz hands to the boof baf. I would too. In other words, a very fine project by The Reese Project.

(Eastern Standard Time will be released on January 5, 2010.)