Hendrik Meurkens: The Jazz Meurkengers

When one thinks of the jazz harmonica, two names immediately come to mind, the late great Toots Thielemans and the incomparable Hendrik Meurkens whose new project The Jazz Meurkengers fully captures Meurkens' desire to produce a new and exciting swinging jazz album. While Meurkens learned to play the vibraphone first at the age of sixteen growing up in Germany and still does quite well, it is the harmonica that has become his preferred instrument of choice and the one he performs on here.

With that in mind, Meurkens assembles a group of players known for their affinity to the swing. As he states, "Those are the guys who I call first for straight-ahead jazz because they are masters of this style, the hard bop Wynton Kelly/ Wes Montgomery/ Jimmy Cobb groove." The stellar line up of players includes guitarist Ed Cherry, Tenor saxophonist Nick Hempton, Pianist Steve Ash, bassist Chris Berger and drummer Andy Watson. The actual core group of Ash, Berger, and Watson make for a formidable quartet, while Cherry and Hempton do not perform together playing separately on four tracks each resulting in a sizzling quintet for most of the album.

On tap here are nine toe-tapping tracks including three of five originals starting with "A Slow One," where there's nothing slow but the title followed by the "Belgian Beer at Dawn" a contrafact of the standard "Stella by Starlight" featuring a slight new melody. "A Lullaby for Benny" is the first warm ballad of the disc penned for Meurkens' grandson. Horace Silver's familiar "Silver's Serenade" features the frontline of harmonica and guitar but not after the leader takes a long solo on the intro.

" Meurks' Mood" stays firmly within the swinging theme of the project highlighting a fresh new melody whereas the Henry Mancini composition "Dreamsville" is a gorgeous number and the second non-swinging ballad piece of the set. Embracing the standards from The Great American Songbook as the leader enjoys doing often, Frank Loesser's "If I Were a Bell" is another swinging number that became popular after Miles Davis recorded it with his quintet.

Meurkens pays homage to harmonica great Toots Thielmans with his original "A Tear for Toots," the last ballad-like track of the session showcasing the bassist and drummer in a respectful groove that Toots would probably be very happy with. The lesser-known Ellington/ Strayhorn collaboration of "Smada" brings the music to a perky end and ends with a feeling of wanting to hear more. What is certain is that more will be coming as per the notes of the album, but the next recording will feature Meurkens on the vibes. Till then, listening to repeated spins of The Jazz Meurkengers will have to do and that's not bad at all.

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