Don Immel: Long Way Home

This title track to trombonist Immel's Long Way Home CD captures a dreamy film noir quality. Immel has a deep background in classical music and clearly knows the jazz vocabulary, but he might want to consider a career shift to scoring soundtracks. His music evokes potent visual imagery and possesses a persuasive narrative quality. I wish the rhythms here were a little more potent. This artist might be better served by a setting that was not quite so smooth-jazz-ish. But Immel's trombone playing is first rate, and is especially noteworthy for his warm, full tone and great phrasing. Don't be surprised to hear this track on the radio.