Liebig, Steuart Tee-Tot Quartet – “Always Outnumbered ” – [Pfmentum]

Max Level   8/25/2008   CD, Jazz

Liebig leads this offbeat jazz/blues group through his oddly angled compositions. He is awesomely skilled on his contrabass guitar too, and his inventive playing sets the tone throughout this CD. It???s mostly a down and dirty affair, with Scot Ray on dobro, Joe Berardi on drums, and Dan Clucas on cornet. I like what Ray does with his dobro, whipping out wild electrified squiggles and occasionally picking a more down-home country blues thing. Clucas seems a pretty good jazz blower, one who is cool enough to use his mute to spice things up here and there with some nutty wah-wah sounds. Berardi is the perfect drummer for this quartet, solidly in the pocket while keeping things fresh with imaginative little touches. The cornet and dobro are often playing the melody in unison and that???s a great sound. The CD starts with a cool stroll through a back-alley, and it ends with a saloon-style blues shuffle.