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Jazz

Quentin Collins All Star Quintet: A Day in the Life

A Day in the Life
Quentin Collins All Star Quintet: A Day in the Life
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Chasing the Dragon’s first jazz release aimed high: As the album cover states, the album features an all-star quintet. The drummer, Gary Husband, has worked extensively with John McLaughlin; bassist Joe Sanders’ resume would fill the rest of this review; pianist Jason Rebello’s recent projects have included memorable recordings with saxophonist Tim Garland; bandleader Quentin Collins, who plays trumpet and flugelhorn, is one of the UK’s most in-demand players; and a talented percussionist, Miles Bould, rounds out the group. Knowing their mistakes will be etched into wax can hold musicians back on direct-cut recordings, but these veterans play with finesse and panache. Collins has a warm tone that’s perfectly suited for the poignant “Left Unsaid” and the dreamy “Oliliqui Valley.” I can understand why Andrew Quint, who attended this and another Chasing the Dragon recording session and described that experience in Issue 300, saved his highest praise for “Paxos/Antipaxos,” with its catchy melody, infectious groove, and inspired soloing. Well-recorded small-group jazz has a rich tradition, and A Day in the Life, which boasts realistic and detailed sound with plenty of air, adds another gem to that lineage. 

By Jeff Wilson

This will take some explaining, but I can connect the dots between pawing through LPs at a headshop called Elysian Fields in Des Moines, Iowa, as a seventh grader, and becoming the Music Editor for The Absolute Sound. At that starting point—around 1970/71—Elysian Fields had more LPs than any other store in Des Moines. Staring at all the colorful covers was both tantalizing and frustrating. I had no idea who most of the artists were, because radio played only a fraction of what was current. To figure out what was going on, I realized that I needed to build a record collection—and as anyone who’s visited me since high school can testify, I succeeded. Record collecting was still in my blood when, starting in the late 1980s, the Cincinnati Public Library book sale suddenly had an Elysian Fields quantity of LPs from people who’d switched to CDs. That’s where I met fellow record hawk Mark Lehman, who preceded me as music editor of TAS. Mark introduced me to Jonathan Valin, whose 1993 detective novel The Music Lovers depicts the battles between record hawks at library sales. That the private eye in the book, Harry Stoner, would stumble upon a corpse or two while unraveling the mystery behind the disappearance of some rare Living Stereo platters made perfect sense to me. After all, record collecting is serious business. Mark knew my journalistic experience included concert reviews for The Cincinnati Enquirer and several long, sprawling feature articles in the online version of Crawdaddy. When he became TAS music editor in 2008, he contacted me about writing for the magazine. I came on board shortly after the latest set of obituaries had been written for vinyl—and, as fate had it, right when the LP started to make yet another unexpected comeback. Suddenly, I found myself scrambling to document all the record companies pressing vinyl. Small outfits were popping up world-wide, and many were audiophile-oriented, plus already existing record companies began embracing the format again. Trying to keep track of everything made me feel, again, like that overwhelmed seventh grader in Elysian Fields, and as Music Editor I’ve found that keeping my finger on the pulse of the music world also requires considerable detective work. I’ve never had a favorite genre, but when it comes time to sit down and do some quality listening, for me nothing beats a well-recorded small-group jazz recording on vinyl. If a stereo can give me warmth and intimacy, tonal accuracy, clear imaging, crisp-sounding cymbals, and deep, woody-sounding bass, then I’m a happy camper.

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