Instrumental CD of the Month - "John Stein: Bing Bang Boom"

Instrumental CD of the Month

John Stein: "Bing Bang Boom!" (Whaling City)

Produced by John Stein

Executive Producer: Neal Weiss

Recorded, Mixed & Mastered by Peter Kontrimas @ PBS (Westwood, MA)

Liner Notes: Bob Blumenthal

Photos: Kofi & Amy Poliakoff

Album Design: David Arruda, Jr.

Featuring: John Stein (electric guitar), Jako Sherman (acoustic piano, Fender Rhodes electric piano, Hammond organ), John Lockwood (acoustic bass) and Zé Eduardo Nazário (drums)

John Stein's fourth CD as the leader of a brilliant quartet that features Brazil's top jazz drummer Zé Eduardo Nazário, "Bing Bang Boom!" showcases a new level of interaction between them, as well as between bassist John Lockwood and the group's newest member, keyboardist Jake Sherman, who debuted on the quartet's previous album, "Hi Fly."

Highlights: the ingenious hip-hop groove (outstanding brushwork by Nazário!) on Stanley Turrentine's signature theme, "Sugar"; a medley that beautifully adds a slow-bossa nova pulse to both Charles Mingus' "Duke Ellington's Sound of Love" and Billy Strayhorn's "Chelsea Bridge"; Stein's own "Belo Horizonte," with the guitarist quoting Jobim's "One Note Samba" over Nazário's "sambão" beat in the intro, and Sherman later soloing on the acoustic piano, followed by Lockwood; Richard Rodgers' "Lover," on which Stein's "Jim Hall meets Pat Martino" approach shines with full intensity during a perfectly built solo, followed by Sherman on the Hammond and Nazário loose solo style on the drums; Victor Young's "Delilah," from the 1949 movie "Samson and Delilah," played on top of a tipically Brazilian "maracatu" beat, yet the best jazz version of this tune since the one by the Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet in 1954. What else could you ask for?