Larry Corryell, Paul Wertico & Mark Egan – Tricycles
Larry Corryell, Paul Wertico & Mark Egan
Tricycles
(Telarc – 2004)
by Paula Edelstein
Larry Coryell, Mark Egan and Paul Wertico play ten great compositions that tend to relax, excite and propel you forward…all at the same time. Now when I say that this music does all of that, it is with great respect because of a recent road trip that exhausted but energized me, inspired but tired me, and last but not least pointed me in the direction of home after a hard day’s night. In his liner notes, Larry speaks of the stressful road trip that his trio was on when they fell into the recording of Tricycles in Germany.
Nevertheless, despite their fatigue, they kept going and here, they give an energetic performance, inspired and consistent. “Good Citizen Swallow,” an original Coryell tune composed in the 1960s gets an update with this trio. Mark Egan’s bass playing is an excellent extension of Coryell’s guitar register licks. On “Dragon Gate,” drummer Paul Wertico is like a man possessed by his drums while Larry Coryell’s licks on “Stable Fantasy,” a tune inspired by Benny Golson and Cedar Walton is one that should be in every student’s standard guitar jazz repertory because of its quick hip phrases.
The title track is reminiscent of Miles Davis’ cohesiveness and beauty in all registers. It’s kinda blue but the textures and colors are all shimmering. Two of Thelonious Monk’s greatest standards round out the set “Round Midnight” and “Well You Needn’t.” Larry Coryell’s fingering, chords and fretwork set the tone while Egan and Wertico lay a carpet of rhythmic cool.
