John Brown: Children of the Night

John Brown is head of the jazz program at Duke University, and a hard-swinging bassist, as demonstrated on his new CD Terms of Art. This project is a tribute to drummer Art Blakey, and effectively captures the ethos of Blakey's famous band, the Jazz Messengers. Brown and company tackle Wayne Shorter's "Children of the Night," a song recorded by the Jazz Messengers in 1961 and frequently featured on their set lists back in the day. This CD has been getting great airplay for an indie release - heck, there is not even the name of a record company on the disk, just a web site (www.jbjazz.com) - and I can understand why. This is solid hard-bop music, played with consummate skill. Blakey would be pleased.