The Uptown Quintet Live in New York

Classy, upbeat jazz with that indescribable flavor of the city that is a hallmark of New York jazz is what you'll find in "The Uptown Quintet Live in New York." When it comes to jazz improvisations I've always enjoyed the live recording far more than the various studio cuts. The vibe of the audience, heard intermittently throughout the recordings, adds an extra layer of energy to an already splashy title. Sometimes I tend to wonder what the title of these songs actually means, but by now I've learned to just sit back and leave any thoughts of semantics behind me when experiencing instrumental work.

This is high-brow stuff and though I've always preferred the muddier forms of dirty blues or lowdown, ornery New Orleans jazz there is something calm and smooth about the rhythms contained in this album. It's very refreshing, like Tab only no bitter after-taste and it won't dehydrate you. What? I'm sorry but I'm running out of analogies here. The saxophone is also featured and is a powerful testament to the kinds of masterstrokes that are possible when the piano, sax, bass and drums are wedded. This is a quintet that shines when working in tandem and their best moments are when they are all playing simultaneously with the audience keeping me stuck in this beautiful, fully-realized ersatz vision.