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All About Jazz logoIn Da Club: Kelly Rossum
Quintet at the Dakota

Muted trumpets, unmuted emotion

By Dylan Hicks
January 12, 2005


One forgives jazz trumpeter Kelly Rossum for his corny between-song persiflage as soon as his young quintet launches into another tune. At the Dakota last Thursday, the group was looser and tougher than on their '04 CD, Renovation, and Rossum debuted some sometimes shaky but promising new tunes. Best was “Seduction,” a faintly Latin 4/4 low boiler on which Rossum played a talking muted-trumpet solo mindful of both Cootie Williams and Peter Frampton. Tenor saxist Chris Thompson ranged from pellucid Getz-like romanticism to soulful blowing not unlike Michael Brecker; Chris Lonheim was bluesy and typically quick-fingered on acoustic piano and Rhodes; and drummer JT Bates hunched over his kit, swinging and throwing in unexpected turns. Upright and five-string electric bassist Michael O'Brien's solos were a bit too showy and macho, but his ensemble play was as stellar as the rest of the group's.


Dylan Hicks
City Pages, In Da Club, Vol 26, Issue 1258, Published 1/12/05
City Pages is the Online News and Arts Weekly of the Twin Cities

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