I first became aware of this CD about a year and a half ago. I knew the musicians, having worked with the leader and composer, Ron Surace, the drummer, Rusty Jones, and gone to grade school, high school and college with Eric Schneider, the saxophonist. The bassist, Michael Arnopol, also enjoys a great reputation. My wife and I attended the CD release concert at Pete Miller's Pub in Evanston, Il, thoroughly enjoying the food and music. More about the party later.

This very satisfying CD is out on a local Chicago label, Southport, and is in print, although it might take a little while to fill orders. Amazon.com is showing it as available. I bought my copy directly from Ron.

Knowing the musicians, I expected great music. I also was aware that Ron, in addition to being a tremendously facile pianist, was also an inventive composer. However, this CD exceeded my expectations. There are 14 pieces, over 71 minutes of music, spanning a wide range of styles, tempos and rhythmic feels, all within a mainstream jazz context. Surace is the composer on all pieces; the chord progressions are mostly new and unique, although there are a couple of blues-based pieces and one swing piece with some of the changes reminiscent of Sweet Georgia Brown. Ron's compositions are intriguing, often with surprising turns. The feels range from ballad, to swing, to Latin, to Latin fusion, to a piece in 5/4 time (Clone), reminiscent of Dave Brubeck's Take Five. Tempos range from ballad to bright. Several pieces are rather infectious - I continue hearing them in my head long after the CD has finished.

Ron is clearly influenced by Dave Brubeck and Errol Garner, I also hear traces of Oscar Peterson in his technique. He can play with space, he can play with lots of notes, but he always sounds interesting and appropriate, whether soloing or comping.

Rusty is an incredible percussionist. Great time, great taste, great technique. On some pieces, he sounds like a one-man percussion section. Rusty does a super job of setting up the heads and the soloists and contributes some fine solos as well.

I'll talk more about Eric, as he plays tenor saxophone, the instrument I'm most familiar with. He has a big, swinging sound, but is incredibly versatile in his tone and technique. He'll tell you that Sonny Stitt was a big influence and that's evident here. However, he's listened to lots of players. I hear whispers of Stanley Turrentine and Joe Henderson here and there. On the slow pieces, there is an influence of Lockjaw Davis from the Basie Band - no surprise, since Eric was a member of the last Basie Band that actually had Count Basie in it. Eric is his own man - he winds these ideas together and deploys them in a tasty way. I was thrilled when I found out that Eric was on this CD. He has great skill and a great reputation in Chicago, yet hasn't really recorded as much as you'd expect.

Arnopol is a fine player and adds to the tightness of the band. The band is very tight, since they were a working band for much of 1999 and 2000. The band isn't quite working as much together, since Pete Miller's and some of the other live venues are now trying to book more trios to save a few bucks.

On balance, this CD proves that there are great, inventive players to be found on some of the indie labels. This is clearly mainstream jazz, yet these compositions are unique and memorable. The players are in sync with each other and the compositions. I believe that there is great opportunity for individuality and creativity within mainstream jazz, and this CD proves it.

There are not as many jobs for mainstream jazz players in Chicago these days and very few new artists being recorded on major labels with strong distribution. Well, I'm here to tell you that the genre is alive and well in the hearts of the musicians. There's good music to reward those, like me, who search for it.

Back to the release party. My wife and I sat back, had dinner and enjoyed 3 sets. Ron and Eric came over and met my wife and chatted. Rusty, who had met my wife before, sat with us through an entire break, relaxing and telling musical stories. It was a great evening and this is a great band.

There's no rating for this CD in the All Music Guide. I'll help them out: 5 Stars!

I highly recommend this CD to fans of mainstream jazz with great pianists, small-group composers, piano quartets, tenor saxophone.

Cut list:
Cheap Skate
*Labrynth
*Modal Mania
*Here And Now
Samba II
Visitor
The Clone
*Riff Raff
*Nearly Blue
Chiboppo Boppago
Depression in B Flat
Pac Man
*Witch
El Nino

*denotes my favorite cuts, although all are good. I generally listen to this CD from start to finish. It stands up well to repeated listens.

Thanks for reading. God Bless.

Recommended: Yes