When NEA Jazz Master drummer Louis Hayes counts off the tempo to start a tune, you can be sure that it will be Exactly Right!, which happens to be the apt title of his latest Savant release. Accompanied by his frequent associates tenor saxophonist Abraham Burton, vibraphonist Steve Nelson, pianist David Hazeltine, and bassist Dezron Douglas, Hayes swings hard through an hour of inspired small combo jazz. The music is basically in the hard bop style that was prevalent when Hayes made his recording debut back in 1956 as a member of the Horace Silver quintet. To honor his early days, Hayes and company perform Silver’s Mellow D, originally heard on 1959's Finger Poppin’ With The Horace Silver Quintet with Hayes as the drummer. There’s also a homage to fellow percussionist Art Blakey with the closing tune, Cedar Walton’s Ugetsu, the title track of a 1963 Blakey album on Riverside. Tenorman Burton’s burly tone serves him well on upbeat numbers like Duke Pearson’s Is That So, and he also has a beautiful way with a ballad, as he demonstrates on Sergio Mendes’ So Many Stars and Fred Lacey’s Theme For Ernie with exquisite support from vibist Nelson and the sensitive Hazeltine. By now, you might have noticed that Hayes, as bandleader and co-producer with bassist Douglas, has a well-honed talent for picking interesting tunes to play, and ones that are not heard too often. In the Sixties, Hayes briefly co-led a quintet with Freddie Hubbard and Joe Henderson called the Jazz Communicators. It’s a name that the drummer revived around 2010, with many of the same musicians as Exactly Right! , but even if he’s not using the moniker now, the essence is the same: music that’s honest, unpretentious, and deeply satisfying. Recommended.
Savant SCD 2206; Abraham Burton (ts) Steve Nelson (vib) David Hazeltine (p) Dezron Douglas (b) Louis Hayes (d); Paramus, NJ, December 16-17, 2022; Exactly Right!/ Is That So?/ Hand in Glove/ So Many Stars/ Carmine’s Bridge/ Nefertiti/ Mellow D/ Theme For Ernie/ Scarborough Fair/ Ugetsu; 54:54. www.jazzdepot.com
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