Art Ellefson
is a tenor-saxophonist with a sound and style on the tenor that is reminiscent of
Don Byas
,
Lucky Thompson
and
Benny Golson
. This Sackville CD gets off to a dull start with the first three songs being overly dry and lacking strong melodies or much drive. However
Ellefson
's enthusiastic soprano on
"Motion Notion"
seemed to have woken up the session and from then on plenty of heat is generated.
is featured with a pianoless quartet comprised of his son
Lee Ellefson
on guitar, bassist
Russell Botten
and drummer
Buff Allen
. The joyful tenor-guitar duet on "Unframed," a sly "Up Down Some Blues," a cooking "Almost Will Be Mine," and the swinging and bluish "Meat Draw Blues" and a five-minute unaccompanied tenor solo ("Mellonova") are good reasons to acquire this release despite its slow beginning. ~ Scott Yanow