Review by Scott Yanow
Although all eight selections on this set are originals by pianist Todd Hunter, the music is very much in the hard bop genre of the 1960s, even when it is updated a bit. The instrumentation changes from track to track, so there are three piano trios and five songs that utilize a sextet or septet. Several of the songs are accessible enough to be potential standards if they were widely heard, including the driving “Dig It,” the jazz waltz “I Don’t Want the Wind,” and “The Hunter.” The musicians, some of the best in the Los Angeles area, include such fine players as tenor saxophonist Philippe Vieux, trumpeter Brian Swartz, bassist Jeff Littleton, and drummer Aaron Serfaty. All in all, this is a solid modern mainstream jazz set that shows that the state of the jazz scene in Los Angeles was strong in the late ’90s.
