Saturday, October 14, 2017

Mike Moreno - Three for There (CRISS CROSS RECORDS 2017)


On his third Criss Cross leader date, Mike Moreno convenes drummer Kendrick Scott, who played on his fellow Houstonian's prior Criss Cross outings (Third Wish [Criss 1303] and First In Mind [Criss 1338]) and bassist Doug Weiss, who played on Third Wish.

They frame the 39-year-old guitarist's sui generis tonal on a program culled from the corpuses of a multi-generational cohort of heroes: jazz songs by Charlie Parker ("Perhaps"), Wayne Shorter ("The Big Push"), Joe Henderson ("Serenity") and Mulgrew Miller ("For Those Who Do"); songbook gems by Michel Legrand "You Must Believe In Spring"), Johnny Mandel ("A Time For Love") and Vernon Duke ("April In Paris"); plus one apiece by Radiohead ("Glass Eyes") and Lo Borges ("Clube Da Esquina No.1").

As always Moreno finds fresh pathways through familiar sonic landscapes on a date that is a master class in triological conversation.

1. The Big Push (Wayne Shorter)  6:54
2. For Those Who Do (Marcus Miller)  6:27
3. You Must Believe In Spring (Michel Legrand)  7:10
4. Clube Da Esquina No. 1 (Lo Borges)  5:37
5. April In Paris (Vernon Duke)  9:24
6. A Time For Love (Johnny Mandel)  8:15
7. Perhaps (Charlie Parker)  6:35
8. Glass Eyes (Radiohead)  5:19