by Mark Corroto
Every jazz generation has its own Tommy Flanagan, an unheralded player that finally steps into the spotlight and everyone wonders how he has been hiding in plain sight all these years. With Moving Right Along, a follow up to One Up Front(Posi-Tone, 2013) pianist Jon Davis takes center stage with an assured sense of swing and a sumptuous way with a jazz vocabulary.
As a sideman, he has held the piano chair in bands led by jazz fusion greats Jaco Pastorious and Brian Melvin, big band leaders Joris Teepe and Bill Mobley, and jazz legendsJoe Henderson, Milt Jackson, and Stan Getz and today’s stars Eddie Henderson and Ilhan Ersahin.
Leading his own trio with bassist Yasushi Nakamura and drummer Shinnosuke Takahashi, he negotiates a few standards, some discerning pop tunes, and five original compositions. Judging his approach is best taken up with his his covers of Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane. The latter’s “Moment’s Notice” is taken at a gentler pace revealing Davis’ sweet-tempered disposition. Same for his solo mediative take on Monk’s “Reflections.” Davis plays with patience and an imperturbability that suggests he would sound this way playing for an audience of one or a packed concert hall.
Track Listing: Moving Right Along; Under The Stairway; Moment’s Notice; Beauty and The Blues; I’ve Never Been In Love Before; Reflections; She’s Leaving Home; Portrait of Tracy; Dania; Just In Case; Pensive Puff; I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues.
Personnel: Jon Davis: piano; Yasushi Nakamura: bass; Shinnosuke Takahashi: drums.
