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This Is Always -- this is the best, January 6, 2002
My wife keeps track of these kinds of things--she tells me that I have over 700 jazz cd's. If that count is inaccurate, it's because there are probably 50-75 more scattered throughout the house for easy access.
So? So, this little-known cd by Herb Pomeroy and Billy Novick is, as far as I'm concerned, one of the ten or fifteen best in my collection. This is not The Duke, or Miles, or Oscar Peterson, or Coltrane, Stan Getz, Charlie Parker. No, what you have here is Pomeroy on trumpet and flugelhorn, and Billy Novick on clarinet and alto sax, backed by a tight four-piece rhythm section comprised of even lesser known musicians.

The result? One of the sweetest, gently swingingest, most mellow (I hate that word, but here it is perfectly apt)sets of jazz you will ever hear. Easy listening? I won't use that phrase because of all the evil connotations it dredges up. But, oh lord, this is gentle on the ears, gentle on the spirit, gentle on the mind.

The first cut, "A Lull at Dawn," by 1940s clarinetist Barney Bigard (does it get any more unheard of than this guy?) just swallows you up in its lilting serenity. Novick leads with clarinet; Pomeroy follows with trumpet. And you think you've discovered a jazz lullabye.

But, wait--the very next cut--an original by Novick entitled "Two of a Kind"--is even finer. In the first 18 bars, Pomeroy is impossibly lyrical, the melody as warm and glowing as anything I've ever heard. The rhythm section takes over and never drops the ball. Sit down, put your feet up. A scotch and soda? Some warm red wine? Just indulge. This seven-minute cut simply transports you as only the finest art can do.

Trumpet and bass. Clarinet and piano. Some soft but insistent brushes. A guiding piano. Pomeroy and Novick. Novick and Pomeroy. Sometimes, you truly cannot tell their instruments apart.

Novick was a student at the famous Berklee College. Pomeroy taught there for forty years. And, yes, this is intelligent music. It explores elegantly and eloquently. It meanders, but always meaningfully. It is creative without ever being cute. It is sweet without ever being cloying.There is improvisation but never oneupsmanship. This music glides, slides, hovers, lingers. You get the feeling that this set is so organic that only these six musicians could ever have put it together.

Craft. Heart. Generosity. Attention to detail. As is said of Oscar Peterson, the will to swing.

As I write, I am listening to this cd. I keep doing that. Keep going back to this recording. It never lets me down. It is never anything less than pure revelation--something new to admire with each listening. The 700-plus other cd's will have to wait a while. Woody Allen says that the heart wants what it wants. Somehow, get ahold of this cd. I guarantee that your heart will want it.

"This Is Always" is for always. And always.