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Brian Lynch startles less with technique than overall approach. There's no shortage of craft, but it's wrapped in layers of intelligence, intuition and passion. His trumpet playing incorporates the innovations of past players, but melds them into a directness of sound that moves easily from be-bop hot to cool blue without pretense. His tone has a soft, rounded fullness that's all the more impressive for not trying to impress. Solos pour out with an unassuming mindfulness.
Last year's Sharp Nine Records release, "Tribute to the Trumpet Masters," shows this refreshingly humble approach clearly. The CD culls tunes from Freddie Hubbard, Thad Jones, Lee Morgan and Booker Little, then intersperses Lynch's own originals in similar bop-oriented style to produce straight-ahead lead lines and solos that, more than anything, have great artistic sense. The grooves come out purring and gleaming, like a refurbished, tuned-up antique car clipping along the highway.
That Lynch neatly sidesteps jazz's ancestor worship and pushes into sincere, fresh territory seems inevitable given his broad experience. He played with many of the top leaders of different jazz approaches -- Horace Silver (hard bop), Toshiko Akiyoshi (experimental big band), Eddie Palmieri (Latin), Phil Woods (bop/hard bop) and Art Blakey (real, real, swinging jazz). On his upcoming tour of Japan, he'll be accompanied by Ricky Germanson on piano, Boris Kozlov on bass and Jimmy Cobb, one of the most respected and powerful drummers around. Tomonao Hara will sit in on the Tokyo shows for a double trumpet workout.
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