Trumpeter
Terell Stafford's 2011 effort
This Side of Strayhorn features the hornman performing a series of classic and lesser-known compositions from
Duke Ellington's longtime collaborator
Billy Strayhorn. Born out of his week-long participation the "Celebrating Billy Strayhorn" fest in Dayton, OH, the album is an urbane and well-crafted affair that finds
Stafford wringing much joy improvisationally and otherwise out of these superb compositions. Joining
Stafford here are such similarly adept players as saxophonist
Tim Warfield, pianist
Bruce Barth, bassist Peter Washington, and drummer
Dana Hall. To these ends, tracks like "Smada" showcase
Stafford's longstanding love of trumpeter
Lee Morgan's bluesy and propulsive style, while "Little Brown Book" is a warm, cup-muted number. Elsewhere, the burnished slow-burn blues "Multicolored Blue" and the laid-back and sultry midtempo ballad "Lana Turner" are easily some of the best small group interpretations of
Strayhorn you could ever find. ~ Matt Collar