When I’ve been attending the annual Mt. Hood Jazz Festival in Gresham (near Portland, Oregon) I’ve been in the habit of timing my arrival after the performances by this student band. Shame on me! After hearing this great CD I’ll be sure to catch them next festival. It’s a very professional-sounding, swinging album with some great arrangements, great playing by the 16 members, and good solos. Plus three guest artists of note: Terrific vocalist Nancy King does a bang-up job of I’ve Got You Under My Skin, arranger and saxist Stan Bock solos on one track and arranged the closing swingin’ Blues for Warren – an original by local band leader/teacher/trumpet player Thara Memory.
The program opens with John Coltrane’s Grand Central and includes the standard End of a Love Affair, but most of the tunes are off the beaten track and uniformly enjoyable to hear. How the school accomplishes this with students coming in and and leaving each year I don’t know, but I wish there had been a jazz band when I was in college!
TrackList: Grand Central, I’ve Got You Under My Skin, I’m All for You, Beijo Inocente, I Be Serious ‘Bout Dem Blues, End of a Love Affair, Out House, The Refrigerator, Out of Sync, Blues for Warren.
— John Henry
