Terell Stafford Quintet: This Side of Billy Strayhorn

After even a quick listen to Terell Stafford ripping through an up- tempo number with his burning hot trumpet, you’ll be inclined to agree with McCoy Tyner’s comment that he’s “one of the great players of our time.” Classically trained as a kid, Stafford drifted over to the jazz side of the street during college. His first major berth was a five- year stint with Bobby Watson’s group Horizon. Later he played with Tyner’s Latin All Star Band, before spells with the Benny Golson Sextet and the Kenny Barron Sextet. Currently a
member of the Grammy-winning Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Stafford has appeared as a sideman on over 90 albums, blowing for
Diana Krall, Cedar Walton, and Herbie Mann to name a few. He has also put out six CDs as a leader, and his latest, This Side of Strayhorn, has been called “the first must-have album of 2011.”
If you want to hear virtuosity put to the service of heartfelt musicality, this promises to be a jazz lover’s delight. With Tim Warfield saxophone, Bruce Barth piano, Peter Washington bass,
and Dana Hall drums.