Joey Calderazzo: Going Home

Rating: ★★★

Record and Artist Details

Label:

Mojomama

February/2017

It is perhaps easy to overlook the career of Joey Calderazzo since he became an indispensable cog in the Branford Marsalis Quartet, replacing Kenny Kirkland in 1998. Yet he has appeared on countless albums, not least by the late Michael Brecker, Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts, Chris Minh Doky, Bob Belden and a host of others. In his own right, he has made seven albums under his own name, with Going Home his eighth, which is surely his finest yet. Throughout his career, Calderazzo has consistently shown artistic growth, and here he seems to reconcile the wealth of his previous playing experiences into a focused résumé of his talent as of August 2014. His main strength is his ability to be simultaneously driving and uplifting, a facet of his playing live that has somehow eluded being bottled on record although here he comes pretty close, always with something to say. Yet he is able to respond to the challenge of a ballad, and sustained melodic invention, with equal ease. Quietly and without banging the drum of hyperbole, Calderazzo seems to have come of age at 50.

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