I hadn’t heard Jay Leonhart before, but I really enjoyed Cool, comprised of mostly heartfelt standards with quite a few interesting arrangements. Leonhart also sings and comes across as a much deeper John Pizzarelli. This record gets a very high WBGO factor due to the clear connection to the past done in a moderately unique way.

Leonhart states that his love for jazz came from hearing the Oscar Peterson Trio with Ray Brown and Herb Ellis. His hero is Ray Brown, while Rosenthal’s is Peterson. Cohn is not indebted to Ellis, but Wes Montgomery. The ethos of the trio clearly is with straight, swinging music, very tightly arranged, with the players developing a group personality. They are not a mere copy of the OPT, or, for that matter the Nat King Cole Trio (see “Bop Kick”), but have internalized the feel of the drummerless trio and swing like crazy, even when one player is soloing. Leonhart seems to have a predilection for Al Cohn, since there are three of his tunes (“Take Four,” “You And Me,” “Two Funky People”) included here. Every tune and its arrangement has its charms, but I most point out the reharmonization of Ellington’s “C Jam Blues” that really works.

If standards are your thing, give this release a try.

— Budd Kopman
© Cadence, July 2005