The music of
Billy Strayhorn and
Duke Ellington may still not be widely recognized by youth culture, as it was similarly by an older generation who found it too progressive. Saxophonist
Don Braden and trumpeter
Mark Rapp -- themselves from Gens X & Y - found it appropriate and a lot of fun to update
Strayhorn's melodies with funkier beats and a fresh approach. With the exceptional pianist
Gerald Clayton, Braden, and
Rapp are really hitting on all cylinders during this exciting program of music taken from the '40s headlong into 2010. Their versions of "Rain Check" or a 6/8 metered reggae-flavored "Johnny Come Lately" could easily be heard in a dance hall. Centered in modal territory via
Clayton's marvelously inventive piano, a take on
Strayhorn and
Ellington's immortal "Satin Doll" and "Isfahan," or the Latin-tinged, much more obscure "Lament for Javanette" -- a feature for young gun
Rapp -- are precious reminders of how modernism from 50-plus years past is still able to be reinterpreted.
Braden's tenor is always vital and substantive, but his flute playing bears close attention on the surreal "Daydream," and a
Herbie Hancock "Maiden Voyage"-styled "A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing."
Rapp's playing is not so much distinctive as complementary to Braden, while vocalist
Sachal Vasandani is also similarly included as a sidebar on three selections. Overall this is a very fine album offering plenty of surprises, and should deserve a follow-up with perhaps different composers in mind. ~ Michael G. Nastos