Matt Dwonszyk: Donny Time-The Music of Don DePalma On Jazz Weekly!
Bassist Matt Dwonszyk delivers a salute to legendary Hartford, Connecticut pianist Don DePalma, who succumbed to the effects of COVID a few years ago.
The music here is a reflection of that celebration, bringing together sessions of DePalma in a mix and match former band mates including all stars such as trombonist Steve Davis, vocalist Linda Ransom as well as Tony Davis/g, Rose Roy/tb, Joshua Bruneau/tp-fh, Kris Jensen/ts-fl, Curtis Torian-Jonathan Barber/dr, Nelson Bello/perc and Dwonszyk himself.
DePalma has a powerful swing to his feel, bubbling over with energy as aptly displayed on a sizzling take of “Softly As In A Morning Sunrise” the rides like a roller coaster with both Davis searing with energy. A collection of tunes with Donny’s name included have Jensen sauntering with the trombonist on “It’s Donny Time”, Torian hammering the ride cymbal on the bluesy “Donny’s Blues” and some wacka wooka soul stirring around Bruneau’s horn on “Donny Time”.
