Jazz: Live at the Library! Concert #107-CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?
Well it happened Thursday, March 10th, 2016, at the Farish Theater in Lexington’s Central Branch Library. Funded by Jamey Aebersold Jazz and hosted by The Jazz Arts Foundation, Inc., the Michael Cruse Quintet put on an excellent show, playing to a house full of friends and jazz lovers.
Michael Cruse, trumpet and vocals, Darren Benton, drums, Andrew Lin, saxophone, Jackson Steiger, piano and Kevin McClellan, bass started the evening off with an interpretation of Horace Silver’s Conformation, titled Juicy Lucy. They rolled out the carpet and delivered clean, concise impact filled playing. I thought that Andrew Lin’s (saxophone) first solo of the night was rich and pure perfection in execution. Cruse played like chocolate melting in the sun oozing sweet excellence that can’t be sopped up fast enough. Juicy Lucy, fun, hip swinging foot stomping piece was a great way to start the show.
Life, an original by Michael Cruse had some discord and dissonance, resembling life in those transition years, toddler, teen, tween and post college days when everything is new and changing. Life is a complex and beautiful arrangement. The 3rd piece on the docket was City Limits, an original by saxophonist Andrew Lin. I felt this is an excellent title for a composition that describes a city to a tee. I was taken on a joy ride, seeing all the sights, Cruse’s trumpet took me bar hopping, with a few museum stops in between, then back to fine dining. Bassist McClellan escorted me to the after hours scene and all got me home, safely, in time to get ready for work.
Unbridled, another original by Cruse shows how Cruse see music-free and non-contained. This piece exuded fun; running, jumping, bucking and playing fun, showing off the quintets individual talents.
The Backwards Step by Nicholas Payton was the next to last piece up and showed off Cruse’s trumpet blowing excellence and gave drummer Darren Benton time to beat out a rich solo.
The final arrangement for the night was an original by Cruse that he has been working on for awhile, Who Knows? What a great way to end the evening by playing a piece filled with questions; will we hear this quintet again, where, when? Will they be the next big quintet to hit the Jazz scene and take it by surprise? In my opinion The Michael Cruse Quintet is the real deal.
The Jazz Art Foundation, Inc. and Jamey Aebersold Jazz concert series welcomed Andrew Lin, Jackson Steiger and Kevin McClellan as the 184th, 185th and 186th individual musicians to play in the series.
Catherine Perkins
