Smokin'
5 Stars
Posted
Monday, June 7, 2021
by
Brian VanPelt
This one is cut loud, like most of the other Tone Poet albums. These guys get started and just keep going - there is no dull moment in this one. I heard ideas that I hadn't before, and you can't help but toe-tap to a lot of these tunes.
The surface noise is essentially null and void, but you wouldn't know it because the music is quite loud.
On the right, I heard the sax and Art Blakey on the drums - and he pounds those things into submission. The piano was in the middle, and maybe a trumpet was on the left. The bass lingers somewhere in the back.
This is a seriously dynamic album. All of the instruments sound correct, and they were all played with vigor. To use classical music speak, the whole album is played in allegro; there is no slow down ever. As far as the music is concerned, this is really high on my list of Tone Poet releases. It is toe-tapping and head bobbing, and it's not even like you have a choice.
Freedom of surface noise affords this l