"Northern Light": This is Book's Music Review - Hudson City Records / Hudson City Records

“Northern Light”: This is Book’s Music Review

Contemporary jazz isn’t a bad thing when put into the right hands. In this case, the right hands are pianist Scott Healy and guitarist Glenn Alexander, who combine a bit of laid back wisdom into a jazz style rich in smoothness (but not too smooth) in their album Northern Light (Hudson City).

What makes this interesting is that while I mentioned that it is “contemporary”, the entire album was recorded 21 years ago and almost forgotten by everyone involved. Almost. The musicians show a sense of care and openness to one another on this album, and the fact that it could have been recorded last week is a testament to everyone who was there to make this happen, especially in a piece like “Christmas Day” where the slow creep of intensity in the song could easily be the anticipation of the day for a kid and adults as well. When Alexander begins to let loose with his guitar, it makes me wish he would just let go and shoot the surroundings like a water hose. Then you get into a piece like “November” that simply sounds like it’s meant to spark an old memory and create new ones. Jeff Hirshfield’s drumming is just superb.

This is an album that deserves to be heard and played repeatedly. Enough said

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