Allen's tenor sax sound is perfectly suited for the music of
Duke Ellington. His literate, traditional approach and occasionally Stan Getz-ian breathy tones go to the heart of
Duke's melodic and harmonic concepts. Pianist
Bill Charlap is excellent through and through, while bassist
Peter Washington and drummer
Kenny Washington are dutiful in attending to their swing. Several of these tracks are read pretty straight, as the ballad "Lush Life," the easy swinger "Just Squeeze Me," the Afro-Cuban to bop "Caravan," and the air-filled "Sophisticated Lady." But the band changes up the rest. At the least extreme, "Mood Indigo" is easy swing as opposed to balladic; "Take the A Train" is slowed way down with
Allen and
Charlap only, while the pianist plays the melody while
Allen's tenor counter-swipes licks on "C Jam Blues." More adapted is the slow tick-tock to bossa of the usual wall-melting ballad "Solitude," and a low-down, lugubrious bluesy swing with
Charlap loading up on the intro and melody of "Things Ain't What They Used to Be," with
Allen's stacatto stopped accents. At their most energetic, the quartet charges hard and trade eights during the up-tempo workout "Cotton Tail," whereas
Allen and bassist
Washington in duet need no other instrumental accoutrements in order to rhythmically fire up "It Don't Mean a Thing if It Ain't Got That Swing." This is most likely
Allen's best batch yet, for he is a great interpreter rather than innovator.
Duke did all the inventing necessary here, and this true collective quartet is hard to top. Recommended. ~ Michael G. Nastos