Search - Ray Anderson :: Funkorific

Trombonist Ray Anderson has proven himself one of his horn's best handlers since the early days of Duke Ellington's brass sections. Funkorific features Anderson's Lapis Lazuli Band playing soulful jazz, abetted by Amina Claudine Myers's Hammond B-3 organ and smoldering vocals. Jerome Harris's guitar has all the plucky exactness of Wes Montgomery and an equally thick bluesy gusto that could mark sessions by Jimmy Smith or Bobby "Blue" Bland. This is Anderson's most sultry recording yet--pushing his vocals, which seem to leap out spontaneously, to the fore. But he still finds all kinds of space to blow slippery solos, most of them laid-back and touched with shades of late-night atmosphere. Anderson has showed his limberly spare chops elsewhere, as on his poignant tribute to Don Cherry from Hence the Reason, the 1997 Bass Drum Bone CD with bassist Mark Helias and drummer Gerry Hemingway. On Funkorific, he opts for soul's slow and warm ambience, and in Myers's keyboard dance, he gets the perfect mix of virtuosity, and attention to mood and groove. --Andrew Bartlett