Ralph Peterson’s Unity Project
Outer Reaches
www.ralphpetersonmusic.com
By George W. Harris

Drummer Ralph Peterson has carried the mantle previously held by Art
Blakey and Larry Young; not only is he a proponent of the same hard bop style of music,
but he’s one of the top talent scouts, as his band has started the
careers of guys like Sean Jones, Jeremy Pelt, Tia Fuller and Steve
Wilson. Here, he’s got a hungry group of Josh Evans/tp, Jovan
Alexandre/ts, and Pat Bianchi/B3 to deliver an assertively macho set
of originals and heavy hitting jazz standards.

The core rhythm team of Peterson and Bianchi display their formidable
wares on the jaunty “Monk’s Dream” and Larry Young’s “Ritha” with lots
of sparks flying between snares and keys. Peterson himself shows some
fancy stick work on Woody Shaw’s “Zoltan” and his own exotic “An Inside
Job.” Shaw gets a lot of traction here, with four tunes of his
spotlighting Evan’s crisp horn (“The Moontrane”) Alexandre’s dark coal
tenor “Katrina Ballerina”). A driving take of the Christmas Carol “We
Three Kings” shows the flexibility of this impressive band, that could
have this disc fit comfortably next to your 60s Blue Notes.