GROOVE!
7/10
They say some twins know what the other is thinking. Bassists and drummers have no choice. In fact humans probably do nothing outside the bedroom demanding as such sublimation of the self as in the cause of creating groove. It’s an apt name for this album, which sees Sydney drummer Andrew Dickeson joined by Canberra pianist Wayne Kelly and US bassist Rodney Whitaker – he who has held down the bottom end on over 100 albums, including with Dianne Reeves, Wynton Marsalis, Johnny Griffin and Joe Lovano.
Whitaker’s playing has a way of disappearing into the music without ever becoming anonymous. Part of this art is his preference for the bass’s lower register, and part of it is that the momentum he generates rides on a phenomenal buoyancy that seems to aerate the drums. But this wouldn’t work were Dickeson not so good at keeping his half of the deal so lithe as well as propulsive. The only time it doesn’t quite gel is on All or Nothing at All, where the “Poinciana groove” feels too earthbound. Kelly, meanwhile, takes flight over this rhythm section and these standards: a dancing, lyrical bop stylist, carrying occasional echoes of his namesake Wynton Kelly.