Look Stop & Listen, Tardo Hammer’s fourth release as a
leader,
is subtitled The Music of Tadd Dameron. It’s the antithesis of a
concept record, in which the music takes a backseat to marketing and
promotion. Instead of a parade of guest stars, all Hammer needs is
bassist John Webber and drummer Joe Farnsworth to launch a rigorous,
thoughtful, and brilliantly played set.....
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More than other great jazz composers like Ellington and Monk, Tadd Dameron was an artist of his era. His time was WWII and right after, as swing became bop. Dameron’s music is prewar melodic romanticism turned ambiguous by complex postwar harmonies and nervous bop rhythms.
Perhaps that is why Tardo Hammer is the finest living Dameron
interpreter....
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