Full Review

Troy Roberts & Tim Jago, Best Buddies Review

Troy Roberts and Tim Jago have teamed up to release a new and exciting album titled, Best Buddies. Roberts is a flourishing leader with twelve chart-topping albums to his name, two GRAMMY-Nominations, and was a semi-finalist in the 2008 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition. Jago has performed and recorded with a host of world-class musicians, a semi-finalist in the inaugural Wes Montgomery International Jazz Guitar Competition, he has three leader, is a member of Troy Roberts’ Nu-Jive group. Having served on faculty as a professor at The FROST School of Music and The West Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Jago also balances a busy sideman performance schedule. The two Australians are joined by Ben Vanderwal, one of the most in-demand jazz drummers in Australia, and bassist Karl Florisson, who has released three albums with long-time collaborators Harry Mitchell and Ben Vanderwal as Trio Trio and is on faculty at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts. Best Buddies is a set of nine tunes performed by like-minded friends getting together to create spontaneous sounds in the straight-ahead jazz/post-bop tradition.

Bottom Line: Best Buddies theme is to create an album of contrafacts (a new melody composed over the existing harmonic structure of various well-known jazz standards), emphasizing group interaction in a jazz language very much in the post-bop tradition with hints of other broadly based genres. “King of Hearts” is a ‘Coltrane-esque’ waltz based on Cole Porter’s classic “My Heart Belongs To Daddy.” Florisson’s big acoustic bass provides the setting. Roberts and Jago explore a wide-open harmonic structure for the solos while Vanderwal turns out ‘Elvin Jones-esque’ rolling triplets. “Zeena” is a natural 5/4 groove based in a small portion of Dizzy Gillespie’s “A Night In Tunisia.” The eloquently melancholic harmonic flow is built by all four members – the epitome of this group’s collaborative mission. Jago’s “Overlook” is based on Harold Arlen’s classic “My Shining Hour” and toggles between C and Eb major. The bop Lennie Tristano-esque melody performed in unison and unaccompanied is outstanding. Throughout the album, Jago displays impressive dexterity and taste. Roberts is one of the most gifted saxophonists of his generation, his playing is always thoughtful, celebratory, and most importantly, in the pocket of whatever groove he desires. Overall, Best Buddies shows the chemistry between good friends in the elixir for an exceptional album. That’s the short of it!