There are some albums that take repeated plays to get the full benefit from, while others take the listener warmly and firmly by the hand and lead them into a new world after just one or two bars, and that is definitely the case here. Matt Kane learned his trade in Kansas City, working at honing his craft until he was invited to join Ahmad Alaadeen’s Deans of Swing in 1995. A few years later and he was off to New York where he has remained an in-demand session drummer as well as running his own drum school. This is his trio’s debut CD, which is warm and inviting. He has been joined on this release by Dave Stryker (guitar) and Kyle Koehler (organ), and while Dave is often playing the lead melodic role it is incredible just how much work is going on behind him.
This is very much Matt’s band, and his workrate is phenomenal as he really swings the band. Yes, there are times when he is providing very much a backing role with gentle cymbals but it is his interventions that really provide the band some lift. This doesn’t sound to me like an album from 2013, but much rather as if it was something from the Sixties or Fifties, and recorded not in a studio but rather in a dark club where everyone sits in silence and awe at the feet of the musicians. This is one of the reasons I write music reviews, as I know that I would have not come across this if I hadn’t been offered it, but my life has been enriched by hearing it. I know that this is something to which I will often return.
