Ron McClure - Lucky Sunday

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop 
Year: 2019
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 63:06
Size: 145,8 MB
Art: Front

(7:20)  1. What's Due
(5:59)  2. The Shining Sea
(7:17)  3. Lucky Sunday
(3:59)  4. Deep Sea Urban Planning
(6:40)  5. Stay Where You Are
(5:17)  6. The Waves
(8:32)  7. You and the Salt
(6:06)  8. Quiet Life
(4:49)  9. Mending Ties
(7:03) 10. To Begin

Bassist Ron McClure's a might generous leader as he sets the sound up with a really rich vibe right from the start, but also lets his other quartet members really get some time to shine in the spotlight! The album's awash in great tones from Anthony Ferrara on tenor, and Rob Block on piano and guitar the latter of whom shifts instruments on different tracks, which adds a further level of color palette to the album! Ferrara's especially great bold, thoughtful, and very creative when he's in the lead and the group's completed by work from Pete Zimmer on drums. Block, McClure, and Ferrara all contributed a fair bit of original material to the set and titles include "Deep Sea Urban Planning", "Lucky Sunday", "What's Due", "To Begin", "Mending Ties", "Quiet Life", and "You & The Salt".  © 1996-2020, Dusty Groove, In https://www.dustygroove.com/item/934084/Ron-McClure:Lucky-Sunday

Personnel:  Ron McClure - bass;  Anthony Ferrara - tenor saxophone;  Rob Block - piano;  Pete Zimmer - drums

Lucky Sunday

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Pete Zimmer Quintet - Common Man

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2004
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:00
Size: 140,3 MB
Art: Front

(6:24)  1. Search
(6:37)  2. Road Taken
(6:55)  3. Common Man
(3:51)  4. A Whole New You
(6:45)  5. Time That Once Was
(5:39)  6. 5 A.M. Blues
(5:33)  7. Hustlin
(6:05)  8. Daytona
(6:11)  9. Darn That Dream
(6:57) 10. Common Man (Alt)

Pete Zimmer's quintet swings with a straight-ahead enthusiasm that captures the tradition inspired by a century of jazz. His trumpet/tenor saxophone front line strolls gracefully through this program of originals and standards. Zimmer drives the unit gently from the drum set, encouraging trumpeter Michael Rodriguez, saxophonist Joel Frahm, and both pianists in their search for the perfect solo improvisation."Common Man," the album's title track, exhibits the strength of a cohesive unit that speaks closely together, like peas in a pod. Not preferring to jump and shout, Zimmer stays the course with a magnetic quality. Solos around the room follow with the same mood as the quintet speaks lovingly of its tradition. Critics of modern jazz complain that it moves too fast and that its intensity gives them headaches. With his debut album, Pete Zimmer reaches out to the common man and proves to him that modern, straight-ahead jazz can capture your heart and take you away from the ordinary. The music elevates his audience. Ballads such as "Time That Once Was" and "Darn That Dream" can lift your spirits gently. John Sullivan's bowed bass statements work miracles. 

Up-tempo romps, such as Frahm's "A Whole New You" and Zimmer's "Hustlin,'" provide drama and driving energy, while maintaining a hardy rhythmic spirit. Zimmer's brief drum solos provide the spice. ~ Jim Santella https://www.allaboutjazz.com/common-man-pete-zimmer-tippin-records-review-by-jim-santella.php

Personnel: Pete Zimmer (drums), Michael Rodriguez (trumpet), Joel Frahm (tenor saxophone), Rick Germanson (piano on "Common Man," "5 A.M. Blues," "Daytona"), Toru Dodo (piano on all other tracks), John Sullivan (bass)

Common Man

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Pete Zimmer - Prime of Life

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2012
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 55:13
Size: 127,5 MB
Art: Front

(7:02)  1. Prime of Life
(5:12)  2. One for G.G.
(6:23)  3. Tranquility
(6:36)  4. Carefree
(6:16)  5. Strollin' Down Bourbon Street
(5:51)  6. T.T.T.
(7:48)  7. Night Vision
(5:19)  8. Almost Home
(4:42)  9. The Three Petes

Prime of Life, drummer Pete Zimmer's fifth recording as a leader, has a clean, crisp, soulful sound. The players of the quartet all top-notch musicians meld their talents into a polished cohesion. Zimmer is a fine drummer capable of impeccable timekeeping and intricate, though usually subtle percussive flourishes. Zimmer's music, with its tight grooves, sounds like heartland jazz, like the quintessentially American sound of an organ trio without, in this case, the Hammond B3 breathing into the mix. Guitarist Peter Bernstein, who has worked extensively with organists Melvin Rhyne and Larry Goldings, is a tangy presence here, whether laying down a slow, thoughtful, single-noting solo on "Tranquility," or with his ringing, organ-like chording on "Carefree." George Garzone fronts this quartet outing. 

The somewhat underappreciated saxophonist seems to fall into the "musicians' musician" category, like Joe Henderson prior to the late saxophonist's late-career breakout recording, So Near, So Far (Musings for Miles) (Verve, 1992). Like Henderson, Garzone solos with a labyrinthine eloquence, smoking in front of bassist Peter Slavov's always solid, always subtle pulse and Zimmer's relentless simmer on "T.T.T.," one of three tunes Garzone contributes to this otherwise all-Zimmer-penned outing. Where Garzone's "T.T.T" runs hot, Zimmer's "Night Vision" rides on a cool and laidback cruise control. It's a fluid roll, like a big new American-made sedan following its headlights along a freshly-paved highway, on a straight shot through the darkness over gentle rises and falls."Almost Home," at just a notch above ballad tempo, features Garzone's most beautiful blowing, and a very piquant solo by Bernstein, leading into the controlled burn of the closer, "The Three Petes," with Garzone the group's only "non-Pete" serving up another of his engagingly circuitous saxophone soliloquies. ~ Dan McClenaghan https://www.allaboutjazz.com/prime-of-life-pete-zimmer-tippin-records-review-by-dan-mcclenaghan.php

Personnel: Pete Zimmer: drums; George Garzone: tenor saxophone; Peter Bernstein: guitar; Peter Slavov: bass.  

Prime of Life

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Pete Zimmer - Judgment

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2006
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 59:01
Size: 136,0 MB
Art: Front

( 7:24)  1. The Mingus That I Knew
( 5:08)  2. Down or Up
( 6:56)  3. To My Papa
( 3:56)  4. 8 A.M. Wednesday Spirit
(10:01)  5. Judgment
( 6:55)  6. Dot Dot
( 6:19)  7. Bye Bye Blackbird
( 7:03)  8. Tutti Italiani
( 5:13)  9. Cut Off

Drummer and bandleader Pete Zimmer hasn't lost a step in getting his product to the people. Arriving in New York around the time of 9/11, he understandably found it difficult to get a record deal. So he created his own label, Tippin', on which Judgment is Zimmer's third release. He essentially keeps the same personnel from his last album (Burnin' Live At The Jazz Standard, Tippin' 2005), with the addition of his former employer, saxophonist George Garzone. On paper, this combo is the same one that has provided quality bebop on two prior albums in what can only be interpreted as an homage to groups like Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers and the Horace Silver Quintet. George Garzone remains the wild card, inasmuch as he is a free blower. Thus it is quite a revelation to announce that Garzone provides several positive turning points on this album Garzone plays on six of the nine compositions (he wrote four of these tunes). He does get the opportunity to take the music out in a limited fashion on "8 A.M. Wednesday Spirit," in a duet with Zimmer's drums, but also builds to a point at which he invokes the spirit of John Coltrane live at the Vanguard circa 1961. Also, for another duet with Zimmer on the standard "Bye Bye Blackbird," Garzone again plays in a post-Coltrane style. In contrast, his solo work on the opening "The Mingus That I Knew" and especially on the title tune is lyrical and appropriately surging. On the latter, Garzone outduels Joel Frahm in back-to-back solos. On his ballad "To My Papa," Garzone shows how to deliver a superior ballad treatment. The opening track, "The Mingus That I Knew," features the shifting rhythm of "Peggy's Blue Skylight" and, what else, a bass solo by David Wong, who emulates Mingus' idiosyncratic playing. Trumpeter Michael Rodriguez presents the melody line on Toru Dodo's "Dot Dot" and then launches into a beautifully stated solo. Zimmer has a few solo opportunities here, and on his previous albums, he didn't take space for himself. But on Judgment, in addition to the two drum/sax duets with Garzone, Pete Zimmer steps forward and rightly so announces his presence. ~ Michael P.Gladstone https://www.allaboutjazz.com/judgment-pete-zimmer-tippin-records-review-by-michael-p-gladstone.php

Personnel: Pete Zimmer: drums; George Garzone: tenor saxophone; Michael Rodriguez: trumpet; Joel Frahm: tenor saxophone; Toru Dodo: piano; John Sullivan: bass; David Wong: bass.

Judgment

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Pete Zimmer Quintet - Burnin' Live at the Jazz Standard

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2006
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:58
Size: 142,7 MB
Art: Front

(13:23)  1. Woodside Blues
(11:13)  2. Getting Dizzy
(10:31)  3. Doin' Somethin'
( 9:42)  4. Brush Pitch
( 7:15)  5. Waltz for Opp
( 9:52)  6. A Whole New You

The beauty of music is that when a subgenre emerges, it can evolve, even as the overall genre evolves. This is evident with hard bop and Burnin' Live. To be sure, this is hard bop. It is patently East Coast. The combo format is a trumpet/tenor quintet. The music is bebop, as passed through the prism of the funky church, with complex heads and melodies. But this is 21st Century hard bop. Drummer Pete Zimmer assembles a band of New York City regulars who play with the grace of Miles Davis' early first great quintet and the fire of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. He does this with a lively collection of original music that transcends the '50s and '60s, while remaining true to the spirit of the period. The show opens with "Woodside Blues. Following a complex head, pianist Toru Dodo plays his best Maurice Ravel interpretation in an extended, impressionistic solo that sounds at once oddly out-of-place and perfectly appropriate to its environs. Joel Frahm follows with a conditioned tenor solo that is a solution of Wayne Shorter and Gene Ammons. Bassist David Wong and Drummer Zimmer provide the momentum. Zimmer's ride cymbal is a marvel as it guides the band. Trumpeter Michael Rodriguez plays with a mellow, tart and taut Lester Young-ish tone in mid-register. And so the remainder of the disc goes. There is hard bop here for all. "Getting Dizzy, a minor blues waltz, is like a collision between McCoy Tyner and Bill Evans, with the horns playing counter to one another... think Rodgers and Hammerstein meets Lee Morgan. Doin' Somthin' is like Hank Mobley in a time machine caught in a traffic jam. The staccato head provides the necessary funk to be elaborated on in the solo sections. Rodriguez heats up his horn, driving past Miles Davis into Kenny Dorham territory. Frahm opens his tenor tone wide and attacks the funk head on. Dodo again confounds with his perfectly erudite piano, which seamlessly barrels through European sensibility and rhythm and blues alike. "Waltz for Opp is the sole ballad in the set, pitting Frahm's introspective playing against Rodriguez's flugelhorn, which emits the sweetness of a near-ripe strawberry. "A Whole New You is the most beboppish of the bunch and acts as a little big band vehicle for the hottest playing on the record. When most listeners think of jazz, they typically think of hard bop. This is as fine a recording as could be hoped for, and it will be on my end-of-the-year list. ~ C.Michael Bailey https://www.allaboutjazz.com/burnin-live-at-the-jazz-standard-pete-zimmer-tippin-records-review-by-c-michael-bailey.php

Personnel: Pete Zimmer drums; Michael Rodriguez: trumpet, flugelhorn; Joel Frahm: tenor saxophone; Toru Dodo: piano; David Wong: bass.

Burnin' Live at the Jazz Standard

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Pete Zimmer - Chillin' Live @ Jazz Factory

Styles: Jazz, Post Bop
Year: 2008
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 61:45
Size: 142,0 MB
Art: Front

( 8:10)  1. Search
( 9:21)  2. Summer Somber
(13:06)  3. Doxy
( 7:16)  4. Una Mas
(12:05)  5. Common Man
(11:46)  6. From This Moment On

In an era when serving a lengthy apprenticeship in a working band is no longer an option, young players who shun fashionable pop-influenced sounds in favor of traditional jazz styles must be very resourceful. Thirty-year-old drummer/composer/bandleader Pete Zimmer balances a desire to extend the modern straight-ahead mainstream into the twenty-first century and the ability to support his ambitions by taking care of the business that surrounds the music. Shortly after arriving in New York City in 2001, Zimmer put together a band of like-minded peers, found a substantial amount of work, and began releasing records on his Tippin' Records imprint. There's no shortage of people carrying the torch for the range of hard bop styles that originated in the 50s and 60s; Zimmer and company are better at it than most. A stable core of personnel includes significant young voices such as trumpeter Michael Rodriguez, pianist Toro Dodo, and bassist David Wong, as well as veteran tenor saxophonist Joel Frahm. Zimmer's first three releases, Common Man, Burnin' Live at the Jazz Standard, and Judgment are largely comprised of original compositions by the leader and his sidemen. 

"Getting Dizzy," "Common Man," and "Road Taken" are good examples of Zimmer's ability to write memorable melodies and evoke a variety of moods. Whether it's Latin, boogaloo, or straight-ahead swing, a decisive, well-defined groove is the defining characteristic of Chillin' Live @ Jazz Factory, Zimmer's latest release. Trumpeter Jeremy Pelt and guitarist Avi Rothbard join Zimmer and Wong in producing a record that's somewhat more relaxed and spare then the Quintet sides. Pelt and Rothbard are fine soloists who have something interesting to say on every track. However, it's the hookup between Zimmer and Wong that makes Chillin' something special. Zimmer's composition "Summer Somber" is a waltz taken at a slow-to-medium tempo. The bassist and drummer create a pulse that's forthright, unpretentious, and contains just the right amount of grit. The music swings persistently yet gives the impression of open space. On a middling tempo rendition of Sonny Rollins's "Doxy," it's easy to lose yourself in the steady push of Wong's walking line and Zimmer's ride cymbal. The bassist and drummer tighten the groove ever so slightly in the middle of Pelt's solo, and Zimmer doesn't feel the need to jump in and react to a long, repetitive sequence by the trumpeter. The drummer goes full tilt at the onset of "Search." His lively Latin rhythms include moments of silence and they set the tone for the rest of the track. Zimmer's boogaloo treatment of Kenny Dorham's classic line "Una Mas" entails precise straight eighth note patterns on his "wet" and "dry" sounding ride cymbals. While staying in the pocket he executes neat snare and tom-tom combinations behind Rothbard's soulful, effusive melodies. The drummer's snare accents subtly propel the head of an update of "Common Man." Amidst Rothbard's chords and single note lines, Zimmer tucks accents under the dry ping of the ride and shoehorns in some multiple stroke fills. He plays straight, unobtrusive time during Wong's solo on an up-tempo rendition of Cole Porter's "From This Moment On." When the bassist resumes walking in the final sixteen bars, you catch an unvarnished view of their extraordinary rapport. ~ David A.Orthmann https://www.allaboutjazz.com/pete-zimmer-chillin-live-at-jazz-factory-pete-zimmer-by-david-a-orthmann.php
 

Personnel:  Drums – Pete Zimmer; Bass – David Wong; Guitar – Avi Rothbard; Trumpet, Flugelhorn – Jeremy Pelt

Chillin' Live @ Jazz Factory

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