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GERRY GIBBS / KENNY BARRON / RON CARTER Gerry Gibbs Thrasher Dream Trio Whirling City Sound WCS 065

1. Epistrophy

2. Promises, Promises

3. When I Dream

4. The Shadow of Your Smile

5. The Woman on the TV Screen

6. The Eye of the Hurricane

7. Tell Me a Bedtime Story

8. A Feeling

9. Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing

10. Sunshower

11. Here Comes Ron

12. Impressions

13. The Thrasher

14. Mr. Clean

15. The Theme

 

Kenny Barron - Piano

Ron Carter - Bass

Gerry Gibbs - Drums

 

Gerry Gibbs, son of the great vibraphonist Terry Gibbs, idolised Messrs. Barron and Carter when he was boy, so the `dream' is that he eventually gets to record with them and this generously-timed CD is the result.

Gibbs, now in his late forties, is not overawed by the two veteran masters, as the trio works its way through an eclectic, mainly up-tempo repertoire. Gibbs himself contributes four originals, When I Dream, dedicated to McCoy Tyner, The Woman on the TV Screen, for his wife, Kyeshie, Here Comes Ron, a feature for Carter, and The Thrasher for Don Pullen.

The piano used by Barron on this recording is a Steinway concert grand that was the house piano in Carnegie Hall. It accompanied Frank Sinatra and was played in concert by such distinguished classical pianists as Daniel Barenboim and Alfred Brendel. It is surprising, therefore, that almost all the tunes on the recording are played at tempi that give no hint of the piano's rich pedigree. Gibbs' tune dedicated to his wife is the only ballad which, disappointingly, makes for a lack of variety in the programme. Even The Shadow of Your Smile becomes an up-tempo swinger and Herbie Hancock's The Eye of the Hurricane is taken at breakneck speed. Burt Bacharach's show-tune, Promises, Promises, with its tricky shifts from three-four to four-four, is the only track on which the normally impeccable Barron is inspired to play above the routine.

Carter plays a delightful walking bass solo on Monk's Epistrophy but I can only describe Gibbs's drumming as belonging to the `Look how many bits of percussion I can hit at the same time' school. Maybe his nickname of `Thrasher', passed back to him by Pullen, has been well-earned.

George Stacy

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