Ballet of the Bouncing Beagles

In league with his local big-band colleagues, drummer/composer (and onetime Tonight Show arranger) Phil Kelly's second album since a Grammy nomination for Convergence Zone figures heavily with references to music past as well as a handful of nice fresh ideas. The album opens in pure jump jazz form with "Play Tonic Buds" — and just maybe a hint of the old Tonight Show theme. The push slows down a fair amount with the subtle but carefully loping "Limehouse Blues," then walks the line between Sunday afternoon jazz and Latin-flared jazz with the title track. A bit of New Orleans creeps into "Ewe Doo on Bubbas Shoux" and there is an overly relaxed approach to a lazy afternoon in "Rainshadow," along with a tribute to North Texas writing via dropped chord progressions. "B D Bunz" takes in bits of soul-jazz and Quincy Jones scoring in equal measure; Latin is tried more directly in "Estos Frijoles Causa Me Falta Pasar a los Vientos," with something of Dizzy Gillespie's blaring approach to Afro-Cuban stylings in the arrangement; and "Grover" stands as a straightforward piece of smooth jazz in tribute to Grover Washington, Jr., though there are touches and idioms from other pieces of jazz history hidden away (was that a horn riff from Head Hunters?). The album ends with a relative bang, moving back to more stereotypical big-band jump again (just as it started) and blasting its way through a frantic seven minutes of solos and group hits before collapsing into a final musical heap. The album has a little bit of everything, but never carries one form quite long enough to sound coherent. Outstanding playing and fine compositions all around, just perhaps in need of some reordering.