Downbeat Magazine
February 2007

Neal Miner / The Evening Sound
***-1/2

Smalls has successfully branded both its venue and label as a proving ground for emerging artists rooted in old-school jazz modernism. Neal Miner exemplifies how these musicians reconfigure familiar components with largely fresh results. On The Evening Sound the bassist's compositions are inspired by an interesting mix of usual suspects -- Tadd Dameron, Horace Silver, Benny Golson, and Hank Mobley -- whose work in the 1950s and the dawn of the 60s mixed hard-bop grit, gliding lyricism and motive-driven shifts in rhythmic feel with tantalizing results. Miner's uncontrived projection of this lexicon's spirit raises the music appreciably above the generic.

Miner leads a sextet mostly composed of Smalls stalwarts who understand that an engaging solo in this setting is better built with small details instead of broad strokes. A front line equally personable serving up brawny swing as it is feathering supple voicings, Chris Byars, Richie Vitale, and John Mosca are smart soloists who are developing the complementary voices that distinguishd the best hard-bop and modern jazz units 45 to 50 years ago. Much the same can be said of the section work of Miner, Steve Ash, and Tom Melito.

There's a brightness to Miner's music that brings the album's title into question. The Evening Sound is best on sunny mornings.

-- Bill Shoemaker