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CD Review: The Clay Jazz Band: 2, 3, 4 (Duos Trios Quartets) 

This new offering by the team of Clay and Rausch plus rhythm, is a baker’s dozen of mostly standard fare from the jazz canon. The couple, who play extensively in the Five College region of Western Massachusetts, have wisely created a package that is representative of their work in three different formats. A wide range of versatility is on hand with the use of flute, vocal and guitar alternately providing the lead voice. Additionally, the program is well paced and further varied with the addition of bass and drums or bass only.

From the opening strains of the Carl Fischer ballad You’ve Changed, it becomes quickly evident that vocalist Sarah Clay is a musician of considerable experience, with a penchant for creating interesting phrases with material that could become cliched in less capable hands. Her dual role as flutist in the band no doubt enhances her improvisational skills and vice versa. Her solo work on flute is every bit as skillful, so that it would be hard to say which of these roles is primary.  

Guitarist Karl Rausch is likewise a seasoned vet on his instrument. Not an especially emotional man off the bandstand, his playing, particularly on the ballad selections, gives voice to the composers vision in every case.  He is especially evocative when playing in a support role on Sarah’s vocal offerings. Rausch includes an excellent original composition called Tempest that he has been playing for several years now, leaving the listener hoping he will do more of this in the future.  

Bassist and stalwart musical soul Mark Dunlap is a valued addition to this recording. Always enthusiastic and fastidious about the music, Mark’s presence is so much more than that of a rhythm section player. Drummer Seth Hoffsommer provides great feel and propulsion to the quartet, particularly on the latin-tinged Besame Mucho and Gentle Rain. The recording of Duos Trios Quartets was nicely done by Doug Hewitt’s Watercourse Recording in Amherst, MA.  

- Richard Mayer   

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