Dee Dee McNeil, Musical Memoirs
Gil Defay’s original music is well -arranged and full of pleasant surprises. He has composed everything on this production and has enlisted a large ensemble of talented musicians to interpret his work. From the first track, “D. Bros Groove” the curtains part and the horns take stage center. It sounds like theme-song-music for a splendid show. There is a solid solo by Joel Desroches on keyboard and a breathtaking organ solo by Matthew Smythe, with a funk drum beat established boldly to promote the groove. Gil Defay lets his rhythm section showcase their skills before taking to the spotlight. Then Antonio Penalva celebrates his guitar chops in a joyful way. In fact, this entire album is joyful. This production is a nice blend of contemporary smooth jazz with straight ahead nuances. Michael “Tiny” Lindsey introduces his electric bass talents, followed by Ben Nicolas soloing on drums. This first cut allows each, talented player to take a bow and strut their stuff.
The horn lines are tight and punchy throughout. On the second cut we join the turn-table-party with an up-tempo, danceable tune titled, “Le Cri.” It’s propelled by the spunky drums of Nicolas. If I had one criticism, it would not be the music, the production or the engineering. It would be the cover design. Gil Defay’s music is bright, happy, and memorable. The cover is dark; so dark you can hardly read the credits. I think artists should be as concerned with their album designs as their recorded messages. The title is “It’s All Love” and love is light. That’s not reflected on this CD jacket. Otherwise, here is a beautiful recording, featuring Gil Defay, a wonderful composer and a technically astute musician. I was surprised that Defay sampled the work of Thelonious Monk on the final tune titled, “Epistrophication,” and still took all the credit for composing this obvious celebration of Monk’s Epistrophy” composition. That bothered me.
All in all, the players listed above come together to present a tightly woven carpet of music that rolls out in a stream of plush arrangements and undeniable musicianship. Favorite cuts are: “D. Bros Groove,” “You’re So Good,” “The Lean,” and “Wonderful” (a ballad that makes creative use of synthesizers, like splashes of paint on canvas.); also, the very funky, “On That NYC” and “Le Cri.”
Like the album a lot, but think the recording could have been a lot more open – missing the brightness that’s inherent in the sound of the trumpet, in my opinion, and a bit “removed” from the listener. Also, the song “Le Cri” has essentially borrowed the melody of Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem, but I don’t notice any reference to this in the liner notes. Also agree that the lack of contrast and muddy look of the cover doesn’t reflect the lightness of the music.