Jazz Review (en)

Phil Abraham Trio Fredaines

Phil's composition, "Les Gens Simples" begins with some soft scat singing from Phil. Never overwhelming in his style, and always remaining balanced with the rest of the trio, Phil picks up his trombone and begins a beautiful solo. Tasteful, intimate and projecting his feelings at just the right moments before guitarist Frederic Favarel slips in a few notes while bassist Hein Van de Geyn offers some beautiful strumming alongside Frederic before Phil enters again with some more scat singing to bring out this piece.
Jerome Kern's chisnut, "Pick Yourself Up" is played at a mid tempo beat with Phil wistfully singing the melody and improvising beautifully in a most positive light. His voice sounding like a well tuned instrument, his sometimes raspy phrasing adds much excitement to this arrangement.
Next up is a composition from Bert Joris entitled "Wlakin' Tip-Toe". A piece that reminds me of some of the classic Bop that was played in New York during it's infancy. A perfect vehicle for not only improvising but having fun with the melody. This is what Phil and the rest of the trio do here. Frederic's lovely guitar highlights this piece. A perfect blend of melody and improvisation.
"Scoot", a composition from Neal Hefti is an up tempo arrangement featuring some tricky vocals from Phil. A real test on his ability to carry the melody and sing in and around the song. What can I say, this is a great arrangement. You can almost hear Ella Fitzerald singing along with Phil. It's that type of piece. Short, sweet, and a whole lot of fun.
This is a great little trio who play well off one another in perfect balance. No one steals the spotlight here. Kinda reminds me of Bill Evans classic trio with Scott Lafaro and Paul Motion in terms of how balanced they were and how well they played together. This trio approaches that level. Look out for them in the future. Who knows, they may be appearing at a festival near you.

Randy McElligott