The FivePlay Jazz Quintet is a group of veteran jazz musicians based out of the San Francisco Bay Area in California. The band is composed of Tony Corman on the guitar, his wife Laura Klein on the piano, Dave Tidball on woodwinds, Alan Hall on the drums, and Paul Smith on the bass. Prior to FivePlay, with the exception of Paul Smith, they previously played collectively as part of a sextet called 'Triceratops'.
As the FivePlay Quintet, they define their sound as "melodic modern jazz" to be enjoyed by everyone, whether you are an experienced jazz listener or you’re hearing jazz for the first time.' This album is their self-titled debut. The ten songs are original compositions. All these performers are new to me.
The album starts off fairly strong with "Off the Ground", a solid track, which is followed by the brilliant "Flight of the Gazorple", my favorite cut on the album. It's a melodic, playful, catchy number that had me tapping my foot. I was getting into the groove, and I was expecting even more blistering cuts to come.
They never did.
The problem I had with the album came after the third track, "He'e's Boogie". The songs started to blend in with each other without any pronounced distinction. "Amor Fati" sounds like "Once Upon A Time", but with a slight Bossa Nova twist. "Fever Dream" was a bit flat, and is borderline muzak. It's hard for me to believe that the same people playing "Fever Dream", played "Flight of the Gazorple".
The rest of the album didn't have the impact and punch of the first three cuts. That's not to say that it is bad, it certainly isn't. The direction that the album goes in isn't what I expected based on the opening. The finale, "Sidesteppin' Blues", is a strong finisher.
The music here is well played, but it doesn't sizzle. It's more like a slow broil. This isn't a dig, it's just a matter of preference. Some people have a preference for a slow broil. What is here is straight-ahead jazz played by veteran performers who clearly have chemistry as a group.