Bill O’Connor
Rhapsody In Blue
Challenge Records
www.challengerecords.com

By George W. Harris

If you like your jazz served on the post modern modal plate, pianist Bill O’Connor is your guy. He’s got a great McCoy Tyner-influenced rhapsodic sound with just a dash of Red Garland’s elegance. He mixes trio works with small group formats on this exciting collection of originals and standards. The trio has O’Connor with Steve Berrios/dr and Luques Curtis-David Finck/b painting 3 dimensional portraits on “It Never Entered My Mind” and “Bye Bye Blackbird.” Dave Samuels/vibes, Steve Slagle/as-ss, Conrad Herwig/tb and Richie Flores/perc mix and match on supercharged originals like “Monk’s Cha Cha” and “J Man” with the title track being quite an adventure in its own right. Well produced pieces of art on this well brushed canvas.