FRANK KIMBROUGH

Air

2008-01-21

Frank Kimbrough brings his hard bop to a new exploration invoking shades of latter day John Coltrane. He's recorded with too many artists to mention and with the Frank Kimbrough Trio and he served as the house pianist at The Village Corner in New York's Greenwich Village for five years. The New York Times calls this first Frank Kimbrough solo effort "a mature and personal reflection." It's nice. My experience with modern jazz pianists brings Brad Mehldau to mind, with ethereal backings and modern themes. But Kimbrough's first solo album is just the man and his piano. The liner notes refer to this is something of a one-off while exploring a friend's new studio technology and claims the tapes were never meant to be released. I'm glad he did. This was nice. Some of the features seemed a bit like Kimbrough was simply tinkering with a riff with no sense of structure, hence the latter day Coltrane reference, but when he does bring it together, it's worth the wait. Five Kimbrough originals accompany four other covers, including two Thelenious Monk musings and Duke Ellington's "Wig Wise." A good listen. -- Daniel J. Graeber

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