Gary Smulyan has continued his recent streak of releasing albums with interesting and niche concepts. His most recent release “Tadd’s All Folks” contains all Tadd Dameron compositions. Interpreted by vocalist Anais Reno, and supported by Gary’s excellent blowing and a great band (Pete Malinverni – piano, David Wong – bass, and Matt Wilson – drums).
While this album is very straight ahead, Gary has still managed to avoid over saturating the recording world with more common standards. A lot of the songs here are very unfamiliar, continuing his trend of bringing to light lesser known compositions. His last few albums featured a lot of obscure contra-facts over more common chord changes.
The playing and recording quality are very well done here, if you’re a fan of Gary’s playing (who isn’t?) you should have a listen.