Logan Richardson, Max Mucha (partially hidden) and Igor Osypov. Photo credit: Rachel Zhang

Logan Richardson
(Jazz Cafe, 1 May 2017. Review by Eric Ford)

Many fine musicians see Logan Richardson as a potential future leader of the jazz world.

The music for his forthcoming Blues People CD, which was a large part of the Jazz Cafe set, may perhaps be an attempt to reach out beyond the established jazz audience; whilst it’s by no means “commercial”, it’s less subtle and has less harmonic movement than most of the music on his recent Blue Note debut CD, Shift. 

There are more set patterns for the rhythm section to work from (usually in odd time signatures), and drummer Ryan Lee gave a torrential “Gospel chops” performance quite far removed from the work of Nasheet Waits on Shift, which therefore gave the music from that recording an altogether more groove–oriented vibe in this live setting.

Fleet-fingered Ukrainian guitarist Igor Osypov and Polish bassist Max Mucha completed the powerhouse rythm section over which Richardson’s killer lines and soulful sound poured forth. It was an intense combination and when London’s own Byron Wallen joined in (on trumpet and flugelhorn) a rubato ballad provided some welcome respite.

Impressive as all the players are, a little more light and shade in such a relatively small space wouldn’t have gone amiss.