September 2007

Don Lerman
The Zoot Side of Life
New Charts

By Forrest Dylan Bryant

Taking their cue largely from the Al Cohn-Zoot Sims partnership of yesteryear, tenor saxophonists Don Lerman and Scott Silbert embark on a lightly swinging cruise through classic cool-jazz territory. The pair has highly sympathetic styles, with Lerman charting a straight-ahead course that Silbert nudges into a slightly earthier angle. The program is quite pleasant, sticking to a straight-and-narrow path that might fit in very nicely at a social function, but little depth is evident beneath its pretty surface.