By Ric Bang
Buy CD: Home Suite Home
Who gets the credit
for a great jazz album? It’s usually the performing artist(s), and that almost
always means an instrumentalist or vocalist. Well, that isn’t the case here; all
the credit belongs to Patrick Williams. He composed and arranged the music; he
selected the instrumentalists and vocalists; and he was the driving force
behind it all.
Williams may not be
a household name among jazz fans, but recording artists and producers certainly
know and appreciate him. He has written the music for more than 65 feature
films, 100 television films and 25 television series. He has won four Emmys and
two Grammys — out of 19 nominations — and he was nominated for the Pulitzer
Prize, for his orchestral work An American
Concerto.
Needless to say, he
had his pick of the 18 instrumentalists and three vocalists who participated on
this album. Every serious jazz fan will recognize all of them, starting with vocalists
Patti Austin, Tierney Sutton and Frank Sinatra Jr. The instrumentalists include
pianist Dave Grusin, drummer Peter Erskine, trumpeter Arturo Sandavol,
trombonist Bob McChesny, and saxists Bob Sheppard and Tom Scott.
The true “stars,”
however, are the eight tracks composed and arranged by Williams. Four are tributes
to members of his family: children Elizabeth, Greer and Patrick B., and his
wife of 53 years, Katherine. The rest relate to musicians Williams reveres: “A
Hefti Dose of Basie,” for composer/arranger Neal Hefti and Count Basie; “That’s
Rich” (drummer Buddy Rich); “I’ve Been Around” (Frank Sinatra), sung by Frank
Sinatra Jr. and Tierney Sutton; and “52nd & Broadway,” sung by Patti
Austin.
The arrangement
voicings are second to none; the interplay between the brass, reed and rhythm
sections is to die for. And the result swings
like crazy; I’ve never heard better!
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