Featured Artist: Woody Witt Quintet with Randy Brecker
CD Title: Square Peg, Round Hole
Year: 2005
Record Label: Apria Records
Style: Contemporary Jazz
Musicians: Woody Witt (tenor saxophone), Randy Brecker (trumpet), David Kikoski (piano), Ari Hoenig (drums), Johannes Weidenmeuller (bass)
Review:
Woody Witt is a graduate from the University of North Texas, and on this particular album he called upon two-time Grammy award-winning trumpeter Randy Brecker to help him make this record. He also called upon David Kikoski (Beatlejazz), Johannes Weidenmeuller (Kenny Werner), and Ari Hoenig to help him as well. What a band! This group is one of the most empathetic groups out today. They just know how to read each other and pick up an idea right where the other left off. So what this means is that the listener never gets a break in the music, the idea just keeps getting passed around and around from soloist to soloist until the tune is over.
Eight out of the nine tracks were written by Witt and this album not only displays his saxophone bravura, but his compositional chops as well. The tune "Dirty Dogs" is written by Randy Brecker. Out of Witt's eight compositions, many are scintillating, but there are a few that constitute as stand-out tracks. "Song Without Words," "Before the Rain," and "Taking Her Sweet Time" really stuck out to this listener, besides the Brecker tune "Dirty Dogs."
This disc is recommended for anyone who enjoys contemporary jazz in the style of Brecker, Berg, Chris Potter, etc. A couple of angular and quirky numbers, a couple of beautiful numbers, each laced with harmonic integrity of the highest caliber, proves that Woody Witt is definitely a musician's musician and proves it every time he plays his saxophone.
Tracks: Childlike, Song Without Words, Matching Game, Much More to Say (for James Williams), Before the Rain, Dirty Dogs, Under the Wire, Taking Her Sweet Time, Out of the Box
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