Regional Reviews

Frank Russo/Max Murray
In My Mind's Eye
Exposed Records

        The jazz universe is a huge umbrella under which many styles exist. On "In My Mind's Eye", bassist Frank Russo & drummer Max Murray, with Doug Bickel on piano and John D'earth on trumpet set off down an extremely well trodden path. It's a jazz quartet folks, but their magic is that they make the path their own.
        The liner notes indicate that Russo & Murray have been playing together since 1986, when they joined the U.S. Naval Academy Band. I have no idea how long the've been playing with Bickel & D'earth, but no one ever lets their individual and considerable virtuosity get in the way of their respect for each other or the music. That respect usually comes with maturity.
        With the exception of parts of the first track, "You and the Night and the Music" , a controlled but helter-skelter romp, they stay mostly melodically and harmonically centered, not wandering into mathematical abstraction and dissonance, every cut is accessible to anyone who has an appreciation of music. Remaining "inside" can frequently result in cliche-ridden, wallpaper music. That's not what's going on here. The envelope is being pushed just enough so I never got bored.
        Doug Bickel may be the reason. His compositional abilities are mentioned appreciatively in the liner notes. The result is a CD that works as well in the car on the way to and from work as it does on a Saturday night or a Sunday morning. This isn't just music from guys with good chops, it's a planned mini vacation for the listener.
        The recordings were engineered and mastered by Les Lentz at LSP near Annapolis. The CD-R is nicely done and has a decidedly cool sound that fits the music very well. Some jazz purists might argue that in a jazz quartet, placing both piano and drums across the entire stereo spectrum is decidedly not realistic, and therefore, heresy. I had breezed through nine of the ten tracks with headphones before the thought even occurred to me. Know what? I don't care.
        As I continue to listen to this CD, somewhere in the back of my mind, I'm imagining segues with Nora Jones, George Winston and Miles Davis cuts I never thought possible. Nicely done.

-Ty Ford