‘Desert Flower’ is a culmination of the sound that Lenny (alto and soprano saxophone) and Tony (guitar) have been working on over the last few years since they first met and started playing together at the Christiania Jazz Club In Copenhagen, Denmark in June 2010. Since then they have been working together as a partnership, touring in Lenny’s home country of Russia. On this album they have been joined by Randy Brecker (trumpet), Joe Locke (vibraphone), Cleve Douglass (vocals), Steve LaSpina (bass) and Matt Kane (drums). There is a wonderful group feel about this album, as while both Lenny and Tony are incredible soloists they are more than happy to take a pace backwards and let others shine in the spotlight when the time is right. This is mostly an instrumental album, which has at its’ foundation a wonderful rhythm section, who are playing incredibly complex counter melodies and notes that allows the soloists to really move in and around the music.
Lenny has a wonderfully warm tone, while Tony seems to be happiest when providing the perfect accompaniment and doesn’t take the lead as often as one would think. Randy and Joe aren’t always in the sound, but when they come in they have major impact to the piece, either as soloists, taking part in a duet, or providing another soundboard for Lenny to play against. This is mainstream jazz, much more refined than what I normally listen to, and because of that I found that although I enjoyed it the very first time I played it, it took quite a while to discern and understand all the layers. It is when they up the tempo as on “Horizons” that they really start to cook, with Matt driving them onwards and Randy and Lenny in perfect harmony at the forefront while Tony provides the support.
A wonderful warm, expressive and impressive album that fans of mainstream jazz should look out for.
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