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Critical Jazz agrees that with Ed Cherry “It’s All Good”…

www.criticaljazz.com

My regulars know I am a sucker for an organ trio, an even bigger sucker for a guitarist that can swing without venturing off that self indulgent cliff…Meet Ed Cherry and his first release on Posi-Tone which is appropriately titled “It’s All Good” featuring Byron Landham on drums ( Joey DeFrancesco ) and B3 dynamo Pat Bianchi who has played with everyone from Chuck Loeb to his own stellar recordings. 

Cherry is a name that sporadically popped up on numerous releases I’ve had the pleasure to check out and I say that because Ed Cherry is one of my musical easy buttons. Whatever, whenever, and where ever it’s all ways gonna be smoking and swing is king whenever Cherry is around.  What makes this release as close to perfect as you can get is that Cherry is obviously doubling as a musical sponge. Cherry started off at the world famous Berklee College of Music but soon after wound up playing with such luminaries as Dizzy Gillespie and Jimmy Smith and you hear this in his sound. The swing of Dizzy, the keen sense of melody from Jimmy Smith and the deceptively subtle cool John Patton are all key elements that are part of the Cherry sound. The music is organic, a natural pulse and an all most hypnotic ebb and flow allow Cherry to do a riff on Duke Ellington’s “In A Sentimental Mood” and a killer version of the classic Kenny Burrell “Chitlins Con Carne.” Toss in Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage” and one of the two Cherry originals “Mogadishu” and you have a release with tons of flavor and the perfect recipe for success. 

The trio is not an organ trio in the traditional sense since this is of course Cherry’s project but the trio is rounded off with Pat Bianchi who for this critic is Joey DeFrancesco First Blood Part Two. Speaking of Joey D. we have Byron Landham on drums who has logged some serious time gigging and recording with Joey D. and is one of the most under rated drummers around. A lyrical drummer that is locked and loaded with finese is the perfect compliment to Bianchi harmonic roots of what a trio such as this would and should sound like from the late 1960’s. 

It’s All Good is just that…All Good! Cherry and his single note lines are clean and well thought out. Every note matters and nothing is wasted. The zen jazz vibe of less is more makes for one of the better trio releases for the year. While this is not Ed Cherry’s debut as a leader it may well be his finest recorded work to date. An all star trio with a groove you can use.  

Simply put, if you don’t feel the swing or completely dig this release then you may be waiting on your autopsy report to come back.