Sounding something like the classic Blue Note recordings of trombonist Curtis Fuller’s youth, Down Home has an in-the-pocket joy that’s contagious.
Fuller, who soared early on as a 22-year-old sideman during John Coltrane’s Blue Train in 1957, is again joined by tenor man Keith Oxman and a regular group of collaborators who’ve been together since 2005. That lengthy association has imbued the work here, even more so than on the deeply emotional The Story of Cathy and Me from last fall, with a sense of animated camaraderie. The aptly named Down Home, featuring six originals by Fuller, three other new songs from the band and a lone cover, swings with a mature passion.
Fuller has grown by leaps and bounds since making his famous intro in the opening bars of Coltrane’s sole date for Blue Note, building upon the fiery intellect of that album’s “Locomotion” and largely shedding his early, more overt J.J. Johnson influences. By turns bluesy and then fleet and fun here, Fuller belies his own third-act vintage, offering a feisty performance that matches his own already fully realized ambitions as a writer. “Ladies Night” and the title track would have fit on any album in the classic era of post-bop.
Meanwhile, the temptation is, of course, to focus on Fuller — the only remaining member from those all-star Blue Train sessions, which also included Lee Morgan, Kenny Drew, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones. But there is, in fact, much more to be heard on Down Home. “Then I’ll Be Tired of You,” a standard previously recorded by Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Sarah Vaughn and others, features a gorgeous turn by Oxman, for instance.
The group then remakes “Sweetness,” a key track from 2011’s The Story of Cathy and Me, into this simmering ballad — with a muted trumpet from Al Hood as its highlight. “Jonli Bercosta,” one of just three tracks not to feature a solo from Fuller, becomes perhaps this project’s very best showcase for his amiable, and quite able, sidemen as Oxman, pianist Chip Stephens, drummer Todd Reid and then Hood take a turn at the mic.
But, in those moments too, Fuller never completely recedes from view. Agile, confident and pure toned, Fuller’s trombone glints and delights even when playing in unison. It’s easy to hear him pushing his new friends toward greatness, and they achieve it on Down Home.
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