Rewind That - Christian Scott

With his new CD Rewind That, Christian Scott shows that his name must be included in the list of cats pushing jazz forward while still remaining true to its roots. Joining Christian on this album are Walter Smith III (tenor saxophone); Matt Stevens (guitar); Zaccai Curtis (Fender Rhodes & Wurlitzer); Luques Curtis (acoustic bass & electric bass); Thomas Pridgen (drums) and Donald Harrison (alto saxophone). I was particularly impressed with Walter Smith III who debut CD is a must have on all jazz lovers list.

As a trumpet player and composer Christian really shines. His sound is unique and versatile. Bright and searing one minute, soft and fluffy the next, he adjusts to mood of the music. All of the songs on the album are originals with the exception of two. My favorites include the pulsing title track "Rewind That", "Say It" (drummer Thomas Pridgen really shines) and "Suicide."  The original songs were all closely tied to Christian's personal experiences and it shows in solos. 

This fantastic CD is one of the few that manages to fuse many different genres of music together successfully while still remaining true to elements of jazz that I love. I can easily hear influences of jazz, rock, hip hop and R&B in each track. Normally an album does a good job of addressing one or the other - but this CD does a fantastic job embracing them all. Big props to Christian and his band for that. If forced to pick a favorite CD for 2006 this would be one of the first on my list.

On a side note, I also picked up one of Donald Harrison’s CDs just for an opportunity to hear Christian play some more. On Kind of New he plays a solo on the title cut that sounds so much like Miles Davis it's scary. This cat has skills. Now he needs to come to Washington DC so I can hear him live!

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