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Title: What's Going on Here?
Review: This is the kind of record that gives jazz a bad name. Russell Gunn, a young trumpeter of note, here offers a set of mostly bebop chestnuts supposedly given a fresh reading. Instead, what we get is esoteric, virtuoso, insider treatments. Yes, there are some stunning moments, yes, the fine assemblage of 20- and 30-something jazzers play their butts off, but it generally comes across as cold and academic: ideosyncratic, listener-unfriendly set-pieces. Where's the warmth, the vitality, the craziness that make jazz such a surprizing and engaging music? Not here on this disc, I'm sorry to say.
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