Dreambox Media



(DMJ-1131)

(DMJ-1067)
CD cover CD cover

A three decades-plus veteran of Berklee's jazz studies program, drummer Joe Hunt has toured and recorded with George Russell, Stan Getz and Bill Evans, and has also performed with Joe Henderson, Tal Farlow and Kenny Burrell. His first eponymous acoustic jazz trio CD showcases three original compositions by pianist Steve Rudolph along with five standards, Miles' "Solar" and a Bill Evans medley.
As a follow-up to that studio session, this same superlative trio - which quite literally defines the concept of "group empathy" - released their live documentation of a concert from August 2005, with one Rudolph original and beautiful, swinging performances of standards by Johnny Mandel, Duke Ellington, Duke Pearson and four more.

Personnel: Joe Hunt, drums; bassist Steve Meashey and tasteful, stylish pianist Steve Rudolph, who contributes three originals to the studio session and one to the live recording.
(Live:)
"Alice in Wonderland" / "Just in Time" / "Close Enough for Love" / "Come Sunday" / "The Lamp Is Low" / "How Could You Do a Thing Like That to Me" / "You Know I Care" / "Bill's Blues"
(Studio:)
"I'm Glad There Is You" / "Mr. Bim" / "Solar" / "Everything I Love" / "I Hear a Rhapsody" / "Over the Rainbow" / "Twelve-Tone Tune / Gloria's Step" / "The Earth, the Moon & the Stars" / "Three for B.E." / "The Sweetest Sound I Ever Heard"

What the critics say:

"Anyone who thinks Harrisburg is not a hip town has not heard pianist Steve Rudolph. A founder of the Central Pennsylvania Friends of Jazz, Rudolph has been music director at the Harrisburg Hilton for the last 20 years.
He joins on this live recording with bassist Steve Meashey, an in-demand veteran of the Philly scene, and drummer Joe Hunt, who worked with Stan Getz, George Russell and Bill Evans back in the 1960s.
The playing is tasteful and straight-ahead. Rudolph finds a sly way into several standards, including a jagged exploration of 'Just in Time' and a more mellow take of 'The Lamp Is Low.' 'Come Sunday' rocks with gospel feeling, while 'Bill's Blues,' a Rudolph original, attacks the genre with abandon."
- Philadelphia Inquirer

"Yes, that Joe Hunt from Stan Getz' group back in the '60s. Since then his appearances on disc have been infrequent and mostly out-of-the-way; itıs a real pleasure to see him back in the studio. His new trio is unapologetically modeled after the classic Bill Evans trio, and the discıs program includes 'Solar', 'Gloriaıs Step', and 'Twelve Tone Tune' from the Evans book, as well as an homage 'Three for B. E.'. In the rather cramped liner notes is a description of pianist, Steve Rudolph as 'an artist who projects strength and soul within a lyrical framework,' whose 'technical ability allows the music to speak to listeners without drawing attention to himself' - if so, heıs failed, because this is playing of a calibre to turn heads. On uptempo tracks he is graceful without glibness, his lines so light and fleet they barely touch the ground; when he plays a ballad such as 'Over the Rainbow', he is expressive but also bracingly clear-sighted and unsentimental. This is Evans with the pep and imagination still present, rather than the kind of innocuous redaction of his style one so often encounters among his followers. Rudolph, Hunt and bassist Meashey make this kind of jazz sound fresh and sometimes (on fast pieces like 'Solar' and 'The Sweetest Sounds I Ever Heard') genuinely exhilarating. Itıs a first rate disc, and deserves widespread attention among enthusiasts of the traditional piano trio."
- Cadence

"Drummer Joe Hunt was a collaborator of Stan Getz's and a professor at Boston's jazz think tank, the Berklee College of Music, for 30 years before he landed in Central Pennsylvania...
Their trio recording is a well-motored affair. Hunt, who has backed singers from Astrid Gilberto to Ann Hampton Calloway, pulses with delicacy, his sound brushlike even when he's gotten out the sticks.
Rudolph can sound gilded and plush, but he also provides the occasionally jagged melody interpretation, and Meashey often rises to the fore. Standards dominate, but the pianist offers three tunes, including a dark and beguiling cut, 'The Earth, the Moon & the Stars,' which begins like a children's tune before its poignant denouement. The trio is a pleasant surprise."
- Philadelphia Inquirer


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