Search - Don Braden :: Brighter Days

Clarion Swing

Kenneth R. Cervelli | Clarksville, Tennessee | 06/08/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Don Braden is my new hero, and this recording is a perfect example of hip (but not too hip) contemporary jazz. Braden's rhythm section (Xavier Davis on piano, Dwayne Burno on bass, Cecil Brooks III on drums) swings relentlessly, but also joyously. (And Burno sounds huge, like Wilbur Ware.) There's a nice mix of originals and standards ("Invitation" was an inspired choice, while "My Favorite Things" was a gutsy one--and it works), and both Braden and Brooks are very fine composers. (Brooks' "Montclair" is a lovely, singable composition, taken at a nice swinging lope.) To my ears, Braden works in and between the bars at times like a master of the Swing era (I'm not a musician, though, so I'm simply working from my listening experience)--minus, however, the studied quality that sometimes hampered the so-called Young Lions. His tone is impressively weighty (he sticks to the low end of the horn on "Prelude to a Kiss," for example), but also clearly rousing--clarion. The title track comes last, and it will indeed have you looking forward to brighter days. This is a great jazz recording!"