Tim Warfield - Cool Blue - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Jazzland is Tim Warfield's ninth Criss Cross album, and his third encounter on the tag - following 2007's One For Shirley and 2010's Sentimental Journey - on which he frames his singular tenor and soprano saxophone sound with the magisterially funky and swinging rhythm section of Hammond B3 master Pat Bianchi, Philadelphian drum titan Byron InchBoogieInch Landham, augmented as on Sentimental Journey by Bronx-born percussion wizard Daniel Sadownick. Trumpet titan Terell Stafford, a frequent Warfield partner, shares the front line.

Tough young tenor Tim Warfield, permanent member of trumpet star Nicholas Payton's quintet, has his boss here in a sideman role with vibes-wizard Stefon Harris, pianist Cyrus Chestnut, bassist Tarus Mateen, and drummer Clarence Penn. This is an exciting, hard swinging album with mostly Warfield originals.

On his sixth Criss Cross leader date, saxophonist Tim Warfield reconvenes his bandmates - trumpeter extraordinaire Terell Stafford, Hammond B3 master Pat Bianchi, and Joey de Francesco's drummer-of-choice Byron Landham - from the 2007 date One for Shirley (CRC 1304) for an informed, soulful exploration of American songbook repertoire. A life-long Pennsylvanian, Warfield learned how to navigate such terrain during a long association with the legendary Philadelphia keyboardist Shirley Scott. He applies those lessons to great effect, unfailingly channeling technicalderring-do towards imperatives of emotional expression and swing.