Geoffrey Gascoyne - Jazz Hooks (2022) Hi Res

Bassist/arranger Geoff Gascoyne has been Jamie Cullum's right-hand man for six years, and subtle jazz variations on pop hooks are his stock in trade. Pop Bop hands classic pop material (the ­Stylistics' People Make the World Go Round, the Supremes' The Happening, Rufus Wainwright's Going to a Town, Take That's Shine and much more) to the legendary soul/jazz guitarist Jim Mullen, singer Trudy Kerr and young saxophonist Graeme Blevins, a punchy interpreter of anything funky, without sacrificing his jazz-improv flexibility. Going to a Town features Blevins's ­Sanbornesque alto sax in full flight over Mullen's coolly prodding chordwork and Gascoyne and drummer Sebastiaan de Krom's ticking backbeat. Mullen is ­sublime in Wes Montgomery mode on The Happening, and Blevins sways ­sensuously between cruising on the groove and smacking the accents hard in People Make the World Go Round. Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush's Don't Give Up is a lovely slow drifter with another terrific solo from Mullen. It won't make ­devotees of those pop songs throw the originals away, nor will it make many jazz musicians want to follow the same path, but some passers-by might well get pulled into the fold.