Artist:     Bruce Torff

Album:     Down The Line

Label:     Summit

Release Date:     02/05/2016

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The groove driven jazz of composer/pianist/keyboardist Bruce Torff is a bit smoother and slicker than I like my jazz to be, but his compositions and his flawless ear for where instruments belong, and how they dance with and complement each other, is a joy to listen to.

Bringing into play all the sounds Manhattan and Latin America have to offer, guitars, keys, horns, drums, et al vibrantly express themselves throughout these 11 originals. Sinuously slinky one moment (“Wave of Silence”), pumping the next (“Tribal Function”), then urban and fluid (“Beginning To The End”), Torff presents his players with a solid palette for them to create on, especially guitarist Pete McCann (listen as he stakes his claim to the funky title track) and saxophonist Joel Frahm. Down The Line also features the late trumpet legend Lew Soloff (Maynard Ferguson, Blood, Sweat, & Tears, Carla Bley) last recordings on the gently rolling “This I Promise You” and “Early Sunday.”

– Mike Jurkovic