Eighty-three year old clarinetist
Buddy DeFranco recorded this pleasantly solid and well-executed mainstream jazz album in December 2006 in the company of trumpeter
Lew Soloff, pianist Derek Smith, guitarists
Howard Alden and
Joe Cohn, bassist
Rufus Reid, and drummer
Ed Metz, Jr. Given that such stamina and improvisatory resourcefulness would be admirable in a man half his age,
DeFranco's performance on this album is both impressive and inspiring, for everyone should aspire to this kind of creative maturity. The clarinetist is to be commended for his exceptionally fine work on "Joy Spring" and "Anthropology," and for having the good sense to dedicate both an original composition and an entire album to his black kitty. ~ arwulf arwulf