In those faraway days when I lived in Charlottesville,
Virginia, there wasn’t much of a jazz scene, which made performances by
Cosmology at the Prism Coffeehouse such a treat. For whatever reason, I wasn’t
aware that the band had put out an album on Vanguard records―maybe
in those halcyon days, they didn’t feel the need to club their listeners over
the head with commercials, or maybe I was just inattentive. In any case, Cosmology
produced some fine fusion sounds. I guess John Abercrombie subsequently became
the band’s most well-known alumnus, but trumpeter John D'Earth and his wife, vocalist
Dawn Thompson, have continued to make a quieter splash from their Charlottesville home base.
In the course of keeping track of D’Earth, years ago I
picked up Restoration Comedy, a quintet
date with Jerry Bergonzi on tenor, the much-missed Mulgrew Miller on piano, Mike
Richmond on bass, and Howard Curtis on drums. With that line up, my expectations
were relatively high and mainly well met. It turns out that D’Earth is a good
composer as well as trumpet player. Almost all of the compositions are his, and
they reveal a gift for melody that’s just a tad off kilter, which
makes the recording a step up from the standard hard bop session. Bergonzi and
especially Miller rise to the occasion with some inventive playing, as does the
leader. Verdict: Excellent.
I couldn’t find any links to Restoration
Comedy, so I’ll close with some live D’Earth. Enjoy!
