Ray Brown, Monty Alexander, Russell Malone – Ray Brown, Monty Alexander, Russell Malone (2002) [SACD ISO + FLAC 24bit/88,2kHz]

It would be nice to say that Ray Brown’s final recording session before his sudden and untimely death in the summer of 2002 resulted in a masterpiece, but although this trio session with guitarist Russell Malone and pianist Monty Alexander is perfectly serviceable, a masterpiece it is not. It’s a very attractive album — Brown was probably not capable of producing anything less as a leader — but it suffers just a bit from Alexander’s slightly sugary style and from the lack of a drummer. Recording without a drummer had been the latest thing in the jazz world for several years when this album was released, but it’s not entirely clear what the benefit of such an arrangement was supposed to be. On this album, the swing standard “Fly Me to the Moon” and Dexter Gordon’s boppish “Dexter’s Dex” would have had much more oomph with a sympathetic drummer on board (though on the latter, Malone’s Django Reinhardt-styled backup and Brown’s inimitable freight train rhythmic drive do go some distance toward making up for that lack). And the mid-tempo numbers seem to plod just a bit as well. But as always, there’s no questioning either the inventiveness of Brown’s solos or the rich sumptuousness of his enormous tone.

Tracklist:
01. Django
02. Fly Me To The Moon
03. Blues For Junior
04. Honeysuckle Rose
05. Compassion
06. Dexter’s Dex
07. I Just Can’t See For Looking
08. One For Hamp
09. Don’t Go
10. Look Who’s Here
11. You Can See

– Ray Brown: bass
– Monty Alexander: piano
– Russell Malone: guitar

SACD ISO

RayBrwnMntyAlexanderRussellMalne2002SACDIS.part1.rar
RayBrwnMntyAlexanderRussellMalne2002SACDIS.part2.rar
RayBrwnMntyAlexanderRussellMalne2002SACDIS.part3.rar
RayBrwnMntyAlexanderRussellMalne2002SACDIS.part4.rar

FLAC 24bit/88,2kHz

RayBrwnMntyAlexanderRussellMalne2002FLACStere2488.2.part1.rar
RayBrwnMntyAlexanderRussellMalne2002FLACStere2488.2.part2.rar