COMPOSERS: Ellington/Strayhorn,Various
LABELS: Jazzizit
PERFORMER: Trudy Kerr (v), Mulgrew Miller (p), Geoff Gascoyne (b), Sebastian De Krom (d), Guy Barker (t)
CATALOGUE NO: JIT CD 0023
Trudy Kerr also seems to go from strength to strength, and for Day Dream her excellent trio includes the fine American pianist Mulgrew Miller, with trumpeter Guy Barker appearing on one of the 12 tracks.
Kerr’s sureness of touch enables her to relax and she performs a mixture of familiar and not so well-known standards with great aplomb. Sometimes her delivery has an engaging, almost conversational style.
This is at its best in the opening ‘Polka Dots and Moonbeams’ (played in a lilting 5/4 time, instead of the usual 4/4 – it works beautifully) which also has the first of several superb piano solos Miller plays throughout the session.
Bob Dorough’s ‘Small Day Tomorrow’, with its broad blues feel and Barker’s growling trumpet, has Kerr in declamatory mode, and the Ellington/Strayhorn title track is an exquisitely lyrical performance. This is a poetic and superbly achieved album.