The word swinging gets a bad name some times because it can be used as shorthand for nostalgia. It ought to be a praise word not a cliché. When something does swing so convincingly as here on Monk's 'Brilliant Corners' then all is right with the world. Handy such rightness give or take an additional preceding consonant because it's Empirical vibist Lewis Wright along with US double bassist Matt Brewer and Brewer's fellow American drummer Marcus Gilmore together in top New York studio Sear Sound a year ago. 'Mettle' is probably the most interesting of the tunes but there is a lot to feast on throughout. Wright is clearly world class but that is hardly news and the three hit it off completely, Brewer and Gilmore much better known to international audiences certainly at this stage but newcomers to Wright may well be tracking back to hear him on other records. That impossible thing to achieve, looseness in performance, is definitely here and one of the reasons why the record works so well. The album, while not benefitting from a whole lot of exposure or even much marketing at all beyond its core aim given that it is directed squarely at the classical market because of the label's profile, also is notable for its excellent sound and very strong cover art. On Signum Classics.
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