Dutch baritonist, Rik van den Bergh has released a new album, available digitally as well as on LP. Its titled “Is That So?” It is a tribute to pianist and composer Duke Pearson. Pearson was a great composer that is known amongst jazz musicians but perhaps not as widely as he could be.
I don’t have a lot of information about the album past that, as European record labels seem to never list any information about albums on their sites where they are for sale. Rik is an accomplished baritone player, and sounds great on the album. The recording quality and mix etc are all very well done. The tunes are all great – they sound and feel like classic hardbop jazz, though they are all fairly obscure songs that only a more-than-casual jazz listener is likely to have heard. Duke Pearson’s most well known song is probably Jeannine (often associated with Cannonball Adderley), and while its not on this album, the songs have the same great swinging feel and very cool harmonic feel.
If you’d like to pick up an LP or digital copy of the album head to the record labels site here:
https://www.zennezrecords.com/shop/rik-van-den-bergh-is-that-so-vinyl