Have Horn Will Travel

Duke Robillard's sax player, Gordon Beadle aka Sax Gordon, comes to the plate with his debut album and delivers a disc with some true horn-honking wallop to it. Produced by Robillard and with essentially him and his band backing Gordon for this session, this is a fun album that's thoroughly grounded in older styles. But at the same time, it's also informed with a strong sense of humor, and the performances have a contemporary sensibility, especially evident on the sing-talk vocal efforts "You Said She Wouldn't," "But Officer" and the title track. Gordon's tenor sax tone is as big as you could possibly ask for, invested with all the honking style hallmarks of greats like Gene Ammons, King Curtis, Joe Houston and Junior Walker. Gordon's originals are every bit as strong as any of the obscure jazz classics he chooses to interpret on this debut outing, making the biggest impression here. Another retro sax album? Guess again.