Saturday, July 21, 2018

John D'Earth: Restoration Comedy


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 recordsmaybe 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!