Album Reviews : *** 1/2 PHIL WOODS QUINTET + ONE “Flash†<i> Concord</i> : <i> Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to five (a classic). : </i>
The title refers to the presence on some cuts of both trumpeter Tom Harrell, who left the group last year, and trombonist Hal Crook, who replaced him. Woods, though a brilliant composer, is not represented here in that capacity; his alto sax is the centerpiece for originals by Harrell (the adventurous post-bop “Journey to the Center,†the subdued, harmonically oblique “Weaver,â€), pianist Hal Galper and the Los Angeles composer Tom Garvin, whose swaggering, Monkish “Bradley’s Revenge†is a highlight. Woods switches to clarinet for the exotic “Misirlou,†a 50-year-old Greek pop song. The three-horn blend is a bonus; too bad economics preclude its becoming permanent.
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