Galactic drummer
Stanton Moore is a busy man. Besides working with NOLA's funky sons, he teaches, does a copious amount of TV and film work, and works on solo projects. One of the latter is his acclaimed trio with organist
David Torkanowsky and bassist James Singleton. The three had booked studio time in the fall of 2015 to cut a follow-up to the previous year's celebrated
Conversations. That was put on hold when Crescent City icon
Allen Toussaint died suddenly after a concert in Spain.
Moore's trio didn't feel right proceeding on their own without acknowledging the artist's passing.
Moore had done studio work with
Toussaint, and the shadow of his influence on the trio looms large.
Instead of cutting an original record, the three assembled a host of NOLA luminaries for this masterful presentation of
Toussaint's multi-faceted compositions. Vocalist
Cyril Neville fronts the band on half the set's tunes, including the raucous "Here Come the Girls" (with a burning solo by Trombone Shorty).
Neville's also there on the syncopated, second-line funk of "Life," whose horn section boasts solos by trumpeter
Nicholas Payton and saxophonist Skerik, as well as a killer backing chorus comprised of Erica Falls and Jolynda Chapman. The latter of these two fronts the trio on the soulful ballad "All These Things." There are excellent instrumentals to boot. "Java," a famous
Toussaint jazz tune synonymous with
Al Hirt, is realized with
Torkanowsky laying down his most "humid" piano lines amid a knotty, hard-swinging horn section comprised of Big Chief Donald Harrison, Jr.,
Payton, and Shorty, with
Moore and Singleton driving the rhythm home. The altoist and trumpeter also join the trio on the bluesy, nocturnal "Riverboat," with its gospel overtones and shimmering atmospheric vibe adorned by gently rolling snare, tom-toms, and electric piano. On the deep funk tip, there's the eternal "Everything I Do Gon' Be Funky from Now On" that joins
Moore's trio to sax players
Maceo Parker and Skerik, trumpeter Eric Bloom and trombonist Mark Mullins.
Neville and the backing vocalists emphasize the Mardi Gras Indian-styled chant in the refrain as the groove thunders.
Toussaint was nothing if not a supreme melodist. In the title track, Singleton lays down a gorgeous solo before
Moore and
Torkanowsky follow to improvise on the harmony with grace and elegance. Actor Wendell Pierce guests on the classic "Southern Nights." He speaks the lyric with a jazzman's swing and a rapper's sense of time. Then
Payton takes over the unmistakable sweet soul melody on a B-3 while
Torkanowsky adds fills with an electric piano; Singleton and
Moore frame it all with a laid-back groove. The icing on the cake is
Payton's
Louis Armstrong-inspired trumpet solo to carry it out. It's likely that other tributes to
Toussaint's genius will follow, but it's just as likely that few will be as heartfelt and discerning as the Stanton Moore Trio's With You in Mind. [With You in Mind was also released on LP.] ~ Thom Jurek