Customer Reviews

Taking Chances Live at the Dakota

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If you like hard bop Art Blakey style but with a modern twist then you will love this CD. All the playing is top-notch but of special note is Tim Warfield who blows as good as he ever has. The sound quality is fantastic for a live recording, it makes you feel like you're right there in the middle of all the action. When you look over the track list don't be fooled by the cut Jesus Loves Me. Yes this is the same tune that many of us learned as a little child in our Sunday school class. And it starts out with that same melody but then it transforms in to a hard bop work out as Tim Warfield takes the melody tears it to shreds then puts it back together again. This will easily be one of the top CDs of the year. And one of Terrell Staffords best CDs ever.

Terell Stafford lives up to the name of his first live album and takes chances with a variety of bop styled pieces. Take, for example, Shake It For Me (tk 8) written by saxophonist Tim Warfield; it's a bold, funky composition with a punchy, staccato melody that provides fertile ground for some unusual solos. Or try Blues for J.T. (tk 5), a groovy, bluesy piece that showcases Stafford's ability to really wail and drummer Dana Hall's creative prowess on a solo late in the piece. The lead off track, A Nick Off The Mark (tk 1) has an upbeat latin flair and the band works
as a team to egg each other on when comping during solos. For a roller coaster ride of drawn out passages, fast breaks, and explosions across the scales falling into gentle piano grooves, try Jesus Loves Me (tk 4). Or, for a mellow melody that slowly picks up steam, check out Old Folks (tk 6). Stafford is a professor of music and the Director of Jazz Studies at Temple University in Philadelphia and his intelligence comes through in the inspired tracks heard on this album.