Long-Ass Car Ride Review - Cory Weeds Celebrates Jackie McLean!

Long-Ass Car Ride Reviews: I take long-ass car rides, I listen to albums, I let you know if they are worthwhile.

Cory Weeds - "Condition Blue" (2014) 7.75/10
Cory Weeds - alto sax
Mike Ledonne - Hammond b3 organ
Peter Bernstein - guitar
Joe Farnsworth - drums

In a word: Invigorating

A seriously swinging set. Nothing earth-shattering...it is of course a tribute album; but it's a killer one and Jackie McLean is certainly worthy of the honor. Weeds and company do an A-1 job of evidencing that here, with a great and diverse collection of tunes associated with McLean. If you like your jazz straight-ahead, this is one hella-fine album. The performances are invigorated and very enthusiastic - everyone is grooving hard and playing their hind-quarters off. The best cut is "'Snuff". Other highlights include "Bluesanova", the driving "Capuchin Swing", an excellent "Marilyn's Dilemma" (penned by

drummer Billy Higgins) and the sleeper title track. As I mentioned earlier, it swings hard (look at that line-up!) without one boring moment. Great!