Live & Learn

Live & Learn, Bobby Watson's Palmetto debut, is an engaging quintet disc featuring Orrin Evans on piano, Greg Skaff on guitar, old friend Curtis Lundy on bass, and up and comer Montez Coleman on drums. It's a high-spirited record, melding hard bop ("River Jordan," Pamela Watson's "Stanky P," Dawn Warren's "Why Not") with more soul-tinged sounds ("We Fall Down," "Live & Learn"). Skaff's guitar gives the session much of that contemporary bite. The instrument isn't terribly common in mainstream small-group settings, but Watson, to his credit, uses it to set his music apart in a variety of ways. He duets with Skaff on the mournful "Postlude"; Skaff then switches to acoustic for the effective WTC tribute "Landmarks Lost." On the traditional "Thank You," by contrast, Watson blows freely over a hot swing vamp, backed only by Lundy and Coleman. ("Give me what I need!" he tells the rhythm section at the start of the take.) To wrap up, Watson turns up the heat in 12/8 on the Sammy Davis, Jr. vehicle "I've Gotta Be Me." Passionate and accessible, Watson's music deserves wider recognition, and Palmetto's stature as a strong jazz indie can only help. ~ David R. Adler, Rovi