Newton, Matt
Fire Town Music, 2009, CD
Instrument: Piano
Issue: 15.3
Jazz Ruler Type: Bebop
Performance: 4
Sound: 4
Score: 
O’s Notes: Pianist Matt Newton leads a quartet through eight of his new compositions. Petr Cancura plays sax and does a fine job leading the melodies on many of the songs. Drummer Ethan Ardelli quickly makes his presence known with a brief solo on the opener “Take Aim”. The tempo for most of the music is relaxed and allows us to fully absorb the feeling as opposed to an abundance of blazing techniques. We also liked the cool feel of “Second Wind” featuring bassist Mark McIntyre with a well-developed solo. This is a talented team that supports each other’s solos and comes together as a tight unit. They show a penchant for ballads with the soothing tones of “Through Valleys” before cooking on “”Where To?” our favorite track.
Publicist: Leslie Mitchell Clarke Media
