Donald Brown
Born to be Blue
Space Time ***1/2
Part of a remarkable list of pianists from Memphis to make their mark on jazz including Phineas Newborn Jr, James Williams, Mulgrew Miller, Harold Mabern and not forgetting Booker T. Jones, Donald Brown reunites with former 1980s-era Jazz Messengers colleagues Kenny Garrett and Wallace Roney on Born to be Blue for this swinging set signposted immaculately by bassist Bob Hurst throughout. With Ravi Coltrane on four tracks, and Marcus Gilmore sharing drum duties with Brown’s eldest son Kenneth among the instrumentalists Born to be Blue is Brown’s latest in a long line of albums since the 1990s for the French label. While it’s a studio album the set has a live feel and that miraculously percussive and ‘heavy’ bluesy Memphis piano style is easy to detect. Highlights? A great feeling of abandon getting to the heart of the melody on McCoy Tyner’s ‘Fly with the Wind’; and Wallace Roney is a strong presence with his quietly moving solo on ‘You Must Believe in Spring’ among other spots. Brown is a powerful pianist with great ideas within the tradition and there’s a lot of spirit and many rewarding moments here.
Released on 3 June