Green

For his third solo affair on Seattle's Origin Records, SoCal sax player David Sills produces a classic sort of sound in combination with the rest of his sextet, formed for this album. The saxes tend to run on parallel melodic lines, the guitar solos hark slightly to the days of Charlie Christian, and the rhythm section provides a casual, bouncing backdrop for the front lines. Some of Sills' previous work (primarily that with the Acoustic Jazz Quartet) was smooth to the verge of being filed away in the new age section. This one quickly reclaims his prowess in straightforward jazz and keeps him in the right light throughout. Gary Foster on alto sax and Larry Koonse on guitar help hold up the overriding aesthetics of casual beach jazz. This is pure West Coast cool, modernized only as much as necessary to keep it original. As an added bonus, some portion of the proceeds is given to the Sierra Club (the title was meant to evoke/invoke environmentalism and an environmental theme in the music rather than simply paint a picture).