The Randy Kemp Trio

While Randy Kemp has played piano, tenor sax and sung professionally for almost 20 years on the East Coast, Jobimesque is his first commercially available CD. For this special project, he pays tribute to the bossa nova style of Antonio Carlos Jobim and the classic Stan Getz/Charlie Byrd album Jazz Samba not by reviving its repertoire, but by creating new music in the style.

            Kemp, who is featured on piano, electric piano, organ and tenor-sax, heads a group also including bassist Doc Stephens, drummer Dave Hermantin and percussionist Nick Rodriguez. Guitarist Greg Packham makes welcome appearances during three of the ten originals.

            While there is a consistent unity to the music, the instrumentation varies a bit throughout the record as do the moods and the grooves. Jobimesque begins with a medium-tempo blues “Sabado” which has a catchy melody. “Jobimesque,” with its emphasis on tenor and guitar, keeps the Getz/Byrd sound in mind. “Charlie’s Dream” has a nice bossa groove and is a relaxed and mellow piece. Kemp takes a rewarding piano solo on “Norma’s Song” and his organ is an important part of the Latinish blues “Rain.” “Brian’s Bossa” features a lyrical and haunting theme, some fine drum breaks from Hermantin and rewarding solos from guitarist Packham and Kemp. “Arranque la Guitarra” uses a phrase from Jobim’s “Desafinado” as the basis for its new theme. “Brisa Fresca” spotlights a tenor-bass-percussion trio while “You Were My Song” has Kemp’s lone vocal of the program. Jobimesque concludes with the quirky and infectious “Passeio.”

            Jobimesque succeeds at being both a tribute to the masterful Jobim and a fine introduction to the playing and writing of Randy Kemp.

 

Scott Yanow, jazz journalist/historian and author of 11 books including The Great Jazz Guitarists, Afro-Cuban Jazz and Jazz On Record 1917-76