I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Live at Blue Bamboo from Chris Cortez and it's quite good. Opening with The Visit, Chris Cortez leads the way with his cool, fluid lead work on guitar. Bob Thornton on piano takes the second lead with vibrant phrasing over the tight bass lines of Doug Mathews and Jeff Sipe on drums. This is a strong opener with a potent upbeat melody. Arlington Park has a cool Latin feel with the addition of Joel Rosenblatt on drums, Ron Jenkins on bass, Jeff Rupert on sax and John DePaola on trumpet. Both Rupert and DePaola add really solid lead work making this a standout track. Very nice. Different Strokes is a cool bop tune with really nice muted trumpet work by DePaola, accented by Thornton. Both Thornton and Cortez stretch on melodic solos and Rosenblatt shows his stuff as well, making this one of my favorite tracks on the release. Funky, Aarrgh, really hits a nice groove with Cortez grinding in with some more aggressive over driven guitar lead. Rupert really sails on sax lines and super sub melody by DePaola. Excellent! Wrapping the release is the subtle, A Remark You Made, with it's quiet melody, and Cortez alone on guitar, showing all of the tones of his jazz electric guitar, played with a mix of finger articulation and lush chords. Very nice closer for a strong release.
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