The leader is the least familiar name of all the players here apart from the drummer. But don’t let that put you off. Tenorist Azat Bayazitov, a Russian who used to play with the Igor Butman orchestra and is now living in the States, has a gloriously full sound in the Michael Brecker mould and his compositions have an immediate bustling quality to them.
With Adam Rogers on guitar; David Kikoski on piano or Rhodes; Boris Kozlov on bass; and Samvel Sarkisyan on drums, it’s a formidable unit that the tenorist has drawn together for this album. Bayazitov is the sort of player perfect up close and personal in a club that is if we still had some clubs. The title is ironic, don’t you think, in present circumstances. A great new discovery.