The two-trombone small-combo jazz concept of
J.J. Johnson and
Kai Winding is alive and well, as
Conrad Herwig demonstrates. These eight pieces, all written by
Herwig (who plays lead melodies), have
Steve Davis playing counter-harmonies alongside the leader on the front line.
Herwig pays tribute to eight of his trombone heroes --
Frank Rosolino,
Raul DeSouza,
Slide Hampton, Barry Rogers,
Albert Mangelsdorff,
Johnson,
Curtis Fuller, and
Eje Thelin. Pianist
Orrin Evans is exceptional, as usual, in his role as a contributor, and goes beyond the call with his inventive chording and comping. Known as a "Latinizer" of music written by
Wayne Shorter,
Miles Davis, and
John Coltrane,
Herwig keeps that trend up on the clean, bright, and moving tribute to Rogers (via
Eddie Palmieri) "Que Viva Barry," while going more Brazilian on the sharp, biting jazz samba "Raulzinho's Ride." The exceptional "Eje's Dream" has the trombonists trading musical shards and sharing unison harmonies on a very modern neo-bop Latin-tinged piece in homage to the late Swedish 'bonist, unique to the rest of the CD. There's typical hard bop on "Jay Dot" (similar to
Johnson's classic "Wee Dot"), the easy bluesy swinger "Slide's Routine,"
Herwig's multiphonic intro "For Albert," and
Davis in beautiful off-minor harmony during "Dubois' Delight" (
Dubois is
Curtis Fuller's middle name). The title
A Jones for Bones Tones, aside from being an appropriate title for this concept album, is also a play on words based on the
Chick Corea composition "Tones for Joan's Bones," and is another exceptional effort in a string of them for
Herwig. ~ Michael G. Nastos