Well Spoken
Winner of the category: "Best Traditional Jazz Recording" at the
Washington DC Area Music Awards (The WAMMIES).

     Well-known in town for his work with Tom Principato and Deanna Bogart, bassist Steve Wolf steps to the fore with this impressive and stylistically diverse recording.

     Anyone who's admired Wolf's nimble work in the past will find some familiar touchstones here, whether it's the exuberant romp "Hit That Jive Jack," the similarly extroverted "You Bring Out the Boogie," or the languid reading of "I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)". The latter tune finds Wolf briefly reunited with Principato whose spacious, jazz-inflected approach to the blues neatly sustains the soulful mood established by Swing Speak's saxophonist, Bruce Swaim. An Afro-Caribbean spirit infects both "Hush Little Baby" and "AIice in Wonderland," while the Jimi Hendrix tune "Up From the Skies" receives a peculiar make over, thanks to a finger-popping arrangement featuring the band's pianist and vocalist Tim Ford.

     The album highlights, though, often find Wolf, Swaim, Ford, drummer Barry Hart and company working in a more thoughtful jazz setting. For example, when Swaim trades in his tenor sax for a soprano, and Wolf moves from electric to upright bass, they help produce a lovely rendition of the Billy Strayhorn tune "Lotus Blossom." Another treat, the band's treatment of "Get Happy," begins with a somber introduction by Ford before the band and guest trombonist Rick Lillard engage in some serious mood-altering solos and ensembles. --- Mike Joyce

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