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Back to Party's Over / Begun Reviews Kelly Rossum Party's Over / Begun Trumpeter Kelly Rossum and the quintet open up Party's Over/Begun relaxed and loose-jointed on bass man Michael O'Brian's "Scatterlogic", a rollicking straight ahead quintet workout. Stretched (like a rubberband) trumpet lines, rhythm rolling free and easy. Sounds like the band tried and tried to record it just right, then gave up and said, "What the hell; let's just cut loose and have a good time on this take." And they nailed it. Reviewer speculation, to be sure, but it's a hellva a good time listen, and a great opener to the CD. The Rossum-penned "The Witch" bops along, tenorist Witt sounding sort of (early) Coltranish; and on "Little Mary," another Rossum song, the trumpeter breaks out the mute. The song has a lovely, lyrical melody; Rossum's mute work is superb. The performance sounds like a lost track from Miles Davis's last marathon Prestige Records session, a thoughtful take on an obscure classic, a forgotten Cole Porter Show tune, say, that features a delicately beautiful rhythm section interlude. The ten and a half minute "Sand Dunes" may be the highlight, Rossum's trumpet echoing mid-sixties Miles or seventies Freddie Hubbard. Witt sounds Wayne Shorterish in front of a relaxed rhythm. And then--the highlight within the highlight--an oddly gorgeous piano solo by Ellen Lease: classical inflections giving way to Satoko Fujii-ish free playing. "The Mighty Monarch of the Air" is, according ot the liner notes, the name of an old 78 RPM record player/radio; but the way Rossum floats his trumpet notes over the light-stepping rhythm brings the butterfly to mind. They close out with "Rush Hour," a free-ish tune, angular blowing, with pianist Lease flying into a Cecil Taylor mode. A fine quintet set, a lot of stylistic diversity in the compositions, the package held together into an artistic whole by the versatality of the musicians. A must have CD for fans of the sax and trumpet in front of the rhythm section quintet mode, and a (if I were a betting man) precursor to solo CDs by each and ever band member. Dan McClenaghan AllAboutJazz.com Read this review at AllAboutJazz.com Read Next Review