BRAD GOODE QUINTET featuring ERNIE WATTS

LIVE YOUR DREAM

Origin Records

Brad Goode, trumpet/composer; Ernie Watts, tenor saxophone/composer; Adrean Farrugia, piano; Jay Anderson, bass; Adam Nussbaum, drums.

This is the second album by the Brad Goode Quintet.  He and his friend Ernie Watts celebrate their 8-year association and collaboration on this production. This album was recorded ‘Live’ and fueled by an exuberant audience. The band’s repertoire is a mixed bag, some recognizable standards and several originals written by both Ernie Watts and bandleader, Brad Goode. Both the pianist, Adrean Farrugia and drummer Adam Nussbaum have also contributed original music to the project.

The ensemble opens with “Covid Nightmare” that is Goode’s composition.  It’s an up-tempo tune that features the Goode trumpet, making all kinds of beautiful and unexpected sounds on his instrument. After all, this original song is about the Covid Nightmare,” a nightmare that the world lived.  Not surprisingly, Brad Goode mimics a few screams on his trumpet. Adrean Farrugia lends a very creative and improvised solo. Ernie Watts also flies free and makes his tenor saxophone holler at us in a lovely way, with long arpeggio notes stringing above the rhythm section, blowing like tonal kites across the sky.

Track #2 is a Watts composition titled, “For Michael.”  It has a delightful melody, with a moody bluesy groove. Watts wrote this song shortly after the death of Michael Brecker. It’s a tune that settles the listening audience down, adding horn harmonics that are sometimes dissonant in a very appealing way. The two horn players have awesome chemistry together. Goode and Watts appear to know each other very well. They share those feelings on stage. Watts also wrote the title tune of “Live Your Dream.”

Watts captures that Billie Holiday feeling when he plays “Lover Man.”  I enjoyed the bass of Jay Anderson, sometimes dancing beneath the sadness like a hankerchief dabbing at someone’s tears. They swing it when Brad Goode’s trumpet begins to sing. This is certainly one of the best arrangements I’ve heard of this very familiar tune.

Sometimes fate works in mysterious ways. A local radio station approached Goode and his band to ask if they could record their musical sets for radio presentation. They agreed, but only if Goode could acquire the master tapes. That’s how this impromptu recording came about. What a blessing! Not only for the musicians, but especially for we, the people listening.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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