Buster Williams - Unalome (Smoke Sessions)

At eighty years young, bassist Buster Williams has a long and storied history in jazz, playing with Art Blakey, Sonny Rollins, Sarah Vaughn, Chet Baker, Carmen McRae, Chick Corea, Dexter Gordon, Betty Carter, and far too many more to list. For his birthday album Unalome (the Buddhist symbol of individual transcendence), Williams recruits a gang of friends and co-workers, including pianist George Colligan, vibist Stefon Harris, singer Jean Baylor, saxophonist Bruce Williams, and drummer Lenny White for a program of originals and covers in a melodic post bop style. He and the band groove through the standards “I’ve Got the World on a String” and “42nd Street” (featuring rippling solos from Colligan and Harris), and take charge of the Brazilian nugget “Estate” like Williams wrote it himself. Speaking of his own compositions, the heart of the record is arguably the trio of originals that make up the center. The breathless “Tayamisha,” an older tune dedicated to the leader’s daughter, features the band at its tightest and most rousing, while “In the Middle of the Rainbow,” gorgeously sung by Baylor, and “The Wisdom of Silence” show what a group of sympathetic players can do with beautiful melodies. Williams brings Unalome to a close with the handsome Arthur Butler and Phyllis Molinary ballad “Here’s to Life,” saluting his own well-deserved longevity in perfect fashion.