By Philip Booth, JazzTimes
rising star on the New York scene, pianist Chris McCarthy has made his name playing and/or recording with trumpeter Jason Palmer, saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi, bassist Ben Allison, vibraphonist Sasha Berliner, and singer Clotilde Rullaud, among others. His scintillating solo debut is a provocative collection of smartly arranged, acoustic postbop-and-beyond originals built around a band of top-shelf equals, veterans as well as rising stars: trumpeter Takuya Kuroda, tenor saxophonist/flutist Michael Blake, bassist Sam Minaie, and drummer JK Kim. (Nobody could have predicted that the album’s self-deprecating title would inadvertently reflect a real-life thought that’s probably crossed the minds of more than a few musicians reeling from pandemic-driven performance shutdowns.) Read the full review here.