January/February 2007

Neal Miner
The Evening Sound
Smalls

By Forrest Dylan Bryant

If this album had been released in another era, say 40 or 45 years ago, it would have been a solid seller and a fixture on jazz radio for decades. But today, far fewer people will hear bassist Neal Miner’s wonderful collection of original cool-bop tunes, and that’s a shame. The writing is classic, the playing confident and the atmosphere genial and cozy as Miner’s sextet glides along with concise, effective solos and memorably swinging ensemble passages.