Darmon Meader - Losing My Mind (2023)

Darmon Meader sings in the vein of Mark Murphy and occasionally plays the sax on this mix and match album of post bop moods. The selection of material is quite wide, ranging from a warm take of Tom Paxton’s “The Last Thing On My Mind” with some chamber’d strings, to a fun and Latin read of Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day” and Stephen Sondheim’s with support from guitarist Romero Lubambo and supporting voices of Kim Nazarian, Lauren Kinhan and Peter Eldridge on the former. Meader’s sax is warm on a West Coast cool “East Of The Sun”and his voice is relaxed on his own “Gaia’s Lament”, showing he can scat with the best around Ike Sturm’s bass as he teams up with Rosan Eckert on “Last Call”. Confident vibes.