Friday, April 11, 2014

Michael Feinberg's Humblebrag



I get the occasional cd in the mail for review.  This is a very good thing for me.  Otherwise I probably wouldn’t have heard bassist Michael Feinberg's Humblebrag Live at 800 East.  As it is, I have been listening to it over and over.  It is proof that jazz is still generating great art. 
Featuring Drum Master Terreon Gulley along with Rising Stars, Including Trumpeter Billy Buss, Saxophonist Godwin Louis, and Pianist Julian Shore
Let me tell you: all these guys could have dropped into any classical jazz album and made his mark.  The interplay between the sax and trumpet is exquisite.  The brilliance of a combo is the brilliance of its leader.  When one horn cuts in and it seems like good news suddenly announced, that is the leader as much as the horn. 
Jazz is rooted in the blues.  The blues is essentially and alchemy by which the saddest passions are transmuted into ever present beauty.  There is all that in Live at 800 East, but there is more of the resultant joy that comes from taking all of life in.  
I am playing the title cut and ‘Puncher’s Chance’ on my Live365 station.  Listen for them and buy this disc.  You won’t be sorry you read this blog.