May 2001

Hendrik Meurkens
New York Nights
A Records

By Miles Jordan

New York Nights finds Meurkens with pianist Dado Moroni (who also does a terrific job of guesting on two tunes on Encontros), bassist Chris Berger and drummer Jimmy Cobb. Tenorman Eric Alexander lends his musical muscle on four of the CD's 10 tunes-all straightahead goods-four of which are Meurkens originals. The guy's not only a sensational harp player-on the difficult-to-master chromatic-but an intriguing composer as well. His bebop chops come into play on Bird's "Scrapple from the Apple" on which Moroni shines as well. Nice work by all hands!