Review Text
'Cashman and (Kenny) Barron bring the listener to the edge of his seat through their thrilling adventures.' - Jim Santella in Los Angeles Jazz Scene ' The true essence of Jazz as we know it today and how it derived is in this album.' - Howard Rumsey (Leader/bassist-legendary Hermosa Beach 'Lighthouse All-Stars') 'you are a world-class player and teacher.' - Gary Foster (top jazz and studio woodwind artist) REVIEW September 2003 Issue of the LA (Los Angeles) Jazz Scene 'Standards and several originals comprise this Straight-Ahead quartet session led by tenor saxophonist Glenn Cashman. As Director of Jazz Studies for Cal State Fullerton in 1999-2001, he developed an appreciation for the high caliber of music heard on any night of the week around the Southland. Recent outings at Kikuya and The Jazz Bakery merely bind the connectors tighter. Cashman, who holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Composition, holds a respect for the balance that is required between Jazz education and Jazz performance. The session's six standards are interpreted with a natural ease. Providing stellar support for the saxophonist are pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Ben Riley. Together, the four quartet members explore lyrical melodic patterns and lush harmonic arrays. Four originals highlight the leader's composing authority, which centers on dreamy chorded landscapes and lush lyricism. His major influences, no doubt, include Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn. The session remains Straight-Ahead throughout with an ethereal quality that pervades. Cashman and Barron bring the listener to the edge of his seat through their thrilling adventures. With the full knowledge that education and performance go hand in hand, the quartet offers a highly recommended lesson in great music.' -JIM SANTELLA REVIEW by KEN FRANCKLING Jazz Improv Magazine - Fall 2005 If you're a quality freelance musician and you're going to record, it makes sense to hire the best available rhythm section. The stars were in alignment for tenor player Glenn Cashman when he did just that back in June 1996; the stars, in this case, were pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Ben Riley. Cashman is a professor of jazz studies at upstate New York's Colgate University with strong academic credentials. This CD shows that he also has strong musical credentials, chops if you will, with a spirited and savvy tone and muscular approach to his music. The CD opens with the title track, a savvy Cashman variation on what the jazz community has come to call 'rhythm changes' - chord changes from the Gershwin standard 'I Got Rhythm.' Jimmy Van Heusen's 'It Could Happen To You' is an even stronger launching pad for Cashman & Co.'s exploration with an intensive sax solo setting up a rollicking Barron solo, which rides a mighty cushion provided by Drummond. Freddy Hubbard's timeless jazz anthem 'Little Sunflower' is one composition that became a personal favorite the first time I heard it on a CTI project. I love it no less today. The melodic hook and the solo flights it inspires among it's players have much to do with it. Cashman's version, with this fine rhythm section, doesn't disappoint. Nor does his romp through 'Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise,' though it hardly captures the delicate mood the title suggests. Their reading of John Coltrane's 'Some Other Blues' is shaped by a splendid bass hook Drummond drew from a snippet of the opening melody. Cashman uses this as a showcase for his robust musical preferences--and the rhythm section is right with him. 'Nevsky Prospekt,' another Cashman original, is up-tempo. 'Happy Camping' opens with a laid-back crystalline Barron solo that has you thinking ballad until it twists into it's up-tempo true shape. Are we sensing a trend here? The guy loves to play with fire. Two jazz standards, Ellington's 'In A Sentimental Mood' and 'Autumn Leaves,' close out this session in fine style. The former shines brightly on Drummond's artful and lyr
