| 'Champian: Vocalist/Pianist Champian Fulton With David | | | | Melodious, varied, imaginative, and delicately produced, |
| Berger & the Sultans of Swing'; City Hall Records | | | | it features excellent playing by Moreno, John Ellis on |
| This is an enjoyable romp through a bountiful 14 songs | | | | tenor and soprano sax, Marcus Strickland on tenor |
| ranging from classic (Cole Porter's "Just One of Those | | | | sax, Aaron Parks on piano, Doug Weiss on bass, and |
| Things") to now-obscure pop (Billy Reid's "The Gypsy") | | | | Kendrick Scott and Tyshawn Sorey on drums. |
| to original (Berger and Hendricks's "Never-The-Less"). | | | | Moreno excels in legato arpeggiatic explorations and |
| Berger's band has a lot of punch within the precisely | | | | also enjoys various overdubs and ghostly pedal |
| controlled and intimate framework of his sharp | | | | effects. He and Parks have some nice doubling in their |
| arrangements, which wonderfully highlight Fulton, an | | | | jazz-baroque lines. If I were a betting man, I'd put |
| early twentysomething with a musicality and | | | | money on even richer orchestrations and more faith in |
| sophisticated delivery that belie her tender age. | | | | simpler but still rich melodies in Moreno's future |
| A native of Norman, Oklahoma, Fulton was influenced | | | | compositions. Just a guess. He has such a fertile |
| early on by her jazz trumpeter father, Stephen, and his | | | | musical imagination that I think it will take ever fuller and |
| musician friends, among them trumpeter Clark Terry. | | | | more subtle arrangements to reflect it. |
| The family moved to LeMars, Iowa in the '90s so her | | | | Marcus Strickland; 'Open Reel Deck'; Strick Muzik |
| dad could direct the Clark Terry Institute for Jazz | | | | I wish I could be as enthusiastic about Marcus |
| Studies, and Champian formed her first band, the Little | | | | Strickland's new release. Even though it has Moreno |
| Jazz Quintet, whose oldest member was 12. | | | | on guitar, Carlos Henderson on electric bass, Keyon |
| She has a warm but restrained voice that brings to | | | | Harrold on trumpet, and Strickland's twin brother E.J. on |
| mind Ella's--but of course one has to add some | | | | drums, I found it a little tedious. These are, one and all, |
| caveats to a statement like that. It's more muted and | | | | highly accomplished and technically formidable |
| girlish. And, not to be too Simon You-Know-Whoish | | | | musicians. But I just didn't find the tunes very engaging, |
| about it, she's occasionally pitchy and lacks confidence | | | | the jams went on a bit, and the solos sounded too |
| sometimes in the lower register. | | | | often like grandstanding divorced from the group's vibe |
| That's nit-picking, and only points up her youth and | | | | as a whole. I won't start babbling no-I-in-team adages, |
| great promise. This is an enjoyable album, and augurs | | | | and besides there's a lot of I in good combos, but there |
| many more even-finer ones. If you're in New York, you | | | | really is a discomfiting feeling here of every man for |
| can catch Fulton and Berger's Band at Birdland | | | | himself. |
| Tuesday nights. | | | | "Subway Suite" had a little more heart to it, and I liked |
| Mike Moreno; 'Between the Lines'; World Culture Music | | | | the titular tension of "Volatility," though it kind of |
| Guitarist/composer Moreno's album, on drummer | | | | underlined for me the nerve center I felt missing in |
| Kendrick Scott's World Culture Music, is fabulous. | | | | much of the album. |