Sunday, April 10, 2005

It is sweet

Alto saxophonist Loren Stillman reminds me of Lee Konitz, with some Sonny Criss and Wayne Shorter thrown in, on "How Sweet It Is," a CD of eight compositions all by Stillman who was 21 when this came out in 2003. They're straight-ahead songs but on the border of the avant-garde, as is frequently the case with Konitz. I particularly like "Meat Snake" and "Chasing the White Rabbit."

Joe Lovano says Stillman's future "is so bright it's almost blinding" and the CD shows why. Pianist Russ Lossing, bassist Scott Lee and drummer Jeff Hirschfield are good, too. A disk very much worth getting.

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