David Gilmore: Numerology: Live at Jazz Standard

David Gilmore
Numerology: Live at Jazz Standard
CD Baby
2012-12-06

Note the spelling, and just know that there are several disgruntled Pink Floyd fans on Amazon.com denting David Gilmore’s albums with one and two star reviews because they didn’t do their homework. Let’s jump to the jazz at hand. Even though Gilmore has the guitar chops to make an album all about him, this set finds him neglecting the spotlight for the most part. And when you look at the band’s lineup, you kind of understand why. With Miguel Zenón on alto sax, you’d be could be led to believe that this is his date. Luis Perdomo, Christian McBride and Jeff “Tain” Watts can sound like the Bad Plus when they interlock (that’s a compliment) and Claudia Acuña’s wordless top layer vocalizations never approach anything resembling a gimmick. One general idea behind Numerology: Live at Jazz Standard is the mathematical properties behind Gilmore’s music, as if you needed a calculator in hand to appreciate the music. But when the meters shift like melted butter as they will on “Six (Balance)”, numbers never felt so groovy.

RATING 7 / 10