A deserving recipient of the prestigious Jazzpar Prize in 1994, drummer
Roy Haynes received a boatload of money from the government of Denmark, and gave command performances in Copenhagen, Toftlund, and Aalborg as recorded by the Danish Broadcast Corporation. Those concerts were edited to produce this single CD with
Haynes and an exceptional group of European jazz masters led by
Thomas Clausen. Dubbed "the Jazz Participants", pianist
Clausen picked a fellow Dane in the peerless bassist
Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and Swedish tenor saxophonist
Tomas Franck to accompany him through a program of well-known standards and two new compositions from the bandmembers. Cemented solidly in the post- to neo-bop tradition, the band swings mightily under the rhythmic propulsion of
Haynes, at the time celebrating his 69th birthday. The arrangements are marginal as the band gets to blow fairly free and easy, the tail-end originals being more scripted. The band breezes through a stack of standards, but they're far from nonchalant, closer to workmanlike.
Franck's tenor sound is unmistakably similar to
Michael Brecker during the smartly rendered, exciting title selection, or the straitlaced version of
John Coltrane's "Bessie's Blues" with a flurry of notes coming from his horn.
Clausen stands out on his finely crafted solo after the stock melody of "All Blues,"
Pedersen leads out during the tricky, rearranged "Rhythm-A-Ning" which is loose and not all that precise, while ballads "I Fall in Love Too Easily" and "Skylark" are rendered with requisite sweetness, the latter a case study in how to play the brushes by the drummer. A solo discourse on the opening number by
Haynes crackles with electricity, and he fires up the kettle with his usual drive and panache throughout without dominating. The originals at the tail-end of the CD feature
Clausen's funky, rambling piano in a charted, contemporary
Thelonious Monk/
Michael Brecker amalgam during "A la Blues," while
Franck's "Bright" again reflects the relaxed Seventh Avenue South N.Y.C. neo-bop that the
Brecker Brothers developed in the '80s. These are cozy and comfortable recording of
Haynes and friends, not challenging or over the top, but solidly in the pocket of modern swinging jazz, where
Haynes has dwelled all his adult life. ~ Michael G. Nastos