Darryl Brenzel [Pentasphere]
This is my third listen of this disc, the first two times are recorded here in my Blog [30th December 2010 & 7th November 2012], and it's a bit of a slow burner of a record, haven't listened to it a lot, plus some of the tracks are a bit average, but some stuff in my collection really does take time to come to love, i listened to this on a lovely sunny day, lying on the grass on my back, watching airplane vapour trails in the sky, ah the joys of portable music!.
Darryl Brenzel is American, not sure how old he is, this disc came out in 1998, the front cover photograph is excellent [by Karin Sigman], a black & white shot tinted by a mauve / orange filter?, i like it, the lettering is excellent too, and a 'no admittance' sign, some sort of message here?.
The two best tracks here were 5 & 6, here's a synopsis of both,
5 Some Other Time [8:07] - I remember this tune from a Mark Turner disc, a lovely ballad, almost a guitar / sax duet, Brenzel plays the theme tune [0:22+], really strong and clear, he's got a really nice tone, his solo with variations is excellent [0:22-4:28], throughout Brenzel's solo, you can hear Guitarist Paul Pieper trying to muscle in a solo, it's good to have a degree of competition, they throw sparks off each other as they 'dual', and Pieper gets his solo chance [4:29-5:50], Brenzel finishes things off by coming back in a long way from the end, and they both sort of jam at the end.
6 Pentasphere [6:03] - The title track is a more upbeat number, real Be-Bop, it's now a Quintet instead of a Quartet, after a complex opening theme, Pieper gets his guitar solo in [0:48-2:08], and works up quite a frenzy, Brenzel's solo [2:09-3:26] is strong but surprisingly short, as he allows the Pianist Harry Appelman to have a solo as well [3:26-4:44], his solo is really quite straightforward, and the theme comes back to finish things off.
Darryl Brenzel is American, not sure how old he is, this disc came out in 1998, the front cover photograph is excellent [by Karin Sigman], a black & white shot tinted by a mauve / orange filter?, i like it, the lettering is excellent too, and a 'no admittance' sign, some sort of message here?.
The two best tracks here were 5 & 6, here's a synopsis of both,
5 Some Other Time [8:07] - I remember this tune from a Mark Turner disc, a lovely ballad, almost a guitar / sax duet, Brenzel plays the theme tune [0:22+], really strong and clear, he's got a really nice tone, his solo with variations is excellent [0:22-4:28], throughout Brenzel's solo, you can hear Guitarist Paul Pieper trying to muscle in a solo, it's good to have a degree of competition, they throw sparks off each other as they 'dual', and Pieper gets his solo chance [4:29-5:50], Brenzel finishes things off by coming back in a long way from the end, and they both sort of jam at the end.
6 Pentasphere [6:03] - The title track is a more upbeat number, real Be-Bop, it's now a Quintet instead of a Quartet, after a complex opening theme, Pieper gets his guitar solo in [0:48-2:08], and works up quite a frenzy, Brenzel's solo [2:09-3:26] is strong but surprisingly short, as he allows the Pianist Harry Appelman to have a solo as well [3:26-4:44], his solo is really quite straightforward, and the theme comes back to finish things off.
