Ehud Asherie Trio: Wild Man Blues

The Ehud Asherie Trio teams pianist Asherie with bassist Peter Washington and drummer Rodney Green for a straightforwardly swinging program on Wild Man Blues. Their well-chosen repertoire includes gems like Louis Armstrong’s title track, first recorded by Johnny Dodd’s Black Bottom Stompers in 1922, two pieces by Charlie Parker (Parker’s Mood and Chasin’ the Bird), Dizzy Gillespie’s mid-Sixties composition And Then She Stopped, a few uncommon standards, and Ary Barroso’s 1938 tune Na Baixa Do Sapateiro. A few tracks are a bit on the sedate side, like the title track and Autumn Nocturne. The more energy that the trio displays, the better the result. Flyin’ Down to Rio, for one example, zooms along in a very satisfying way. So does the Barroso song, with an especially chipper Rodney Green stoking the fires. The Gillespie tune ends the set with flair, as the impeccable bassist Washington and a deep in the pocket Green prod Asherie into sailing through the performance with casual abandon. Wild Man Blues is a delightful helping of lucid and radiant music from a crisply balanced piano trio. It’s well worth hearing.
Capri 74153; Ehud Asherie (p) Peter Washington (b) Rodney Green (d); Brooklyn, NY, March 2, 2018; Wild Man Blues/ Parker’s Mood/ Flying Down to Rio/ Autumn Nocturne/ Chasin’ the Bird/ Na Baixa Do Sapateiro/ Oh, Lady Be Good/ And Then She Stopped; 47:14. www.caprirecords.com