REVIEWS

In Your Dreams  MD 2020

Geojazz  2006

MD 2020 is an intimately concocted jazz trio date of eight collective improvisations. The glib album title references a cheap wine (MD 2020 = Mad Dog 2020). However, the serious nature of the band’s demeanor offsets any implications of rambunctious interplay. Think of rolling hills and linear developments, often spearheaded by soprano saxophonist Henry Lee’s warmly articulated and soaring lines. In addition, the trio makes excellent use of space, infused with bump and grind movements and loosely swinging vamps. They cover jazz-blues and mood-evoking scenarios by alternating flows, generally with a noticeable camaraderie.

Glenn Astarita

July 6, 2006   allaboutjazz.com

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MD 2020

“In Your Dreams” (Geojazz, 2005)

Henry Lee (ss), Jeff Norwood (b), Darrell Voss (d)

MD 2020 offer up a disc of exploratory improvisations that take place over active grooves. But the groove-oriented avant-garde jazz found here always stays this side of free funk by constantly falling back upon jazz rhythms only to let the funk bubble and boil out at the most unexpected moments buoying the music along. The minimalist improvisations of Henry Lee, who is clearly influenced by Steve Lacy, insure that the outing is more than just a vehicle for his soprano and instead shifts the focus onto group interplay. “In Your Dreams” is an excellent example of the kind of uncompromising creativity that Henry Lee and his San Luis Obispo label Geojazz are all about.

by justin glick, WNUR Chicago

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Patrick S. Pemberton,  The TRIBUNE,  San Luis Obispo, Ca

MK 2000 — ‘Twilight’

What’s impressive about this CD is just how tight the music is, given that virtually all of it was improvised. It helps, of course, to have outstanding musicians: Darrell Voss on drums, Jeff Norwood on bass, Henry Lee on sax and Inga Swearingen on vocals.

Swearingen, who contributes on most songs, scats her way through much of this CD of subdued, martini-bar jazz interspersed with fused bits of Latin samba and afro-Cuban grooves. Typical of improvised jazz, the songs don’t always have the hooks of a written standard, but they provide soothing ambience that would work well on a noir soundtrack. To hear samples of this CD, visit sanluisobispo.com.