Ben Aronov Trio: The Best Thing for Me

Find time-make time!-to hear this one: energy, chops, solid swing, taste. The wonderfully eclectic choice of material ranges wide across the decades and deep into the repertoire: Sonny Rollins’ “Valse Hot”; Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies” with Monk’s “In Walked Bud” variation; Charlie Parker’s “Air Conditioning”; the Dizzy/Chano Pozo bop anthem, “Tin Tin Deo”; Gilberto’s “Ho-Bala-La.” Plus marvelous evergeens by Cole Porter (“It’s All Right With Me” and “Ev’rytime We Say Goodbye” with Ken Peplowski’s haunting clarinet) and the undeservedly obscure “Nobody Else but Me,” Jerome Kern’s last tune, and Harold Arlen’s “I Gotta Right to Sing the Blues.” And from Berlin’s 1950 musical Call Me Madam, “The Best Thing for You,” in effect the title track: liner notes quote Aronov: “It’s in the key of C, but it opens with a B7 chord, completely alien. The ‘A’ section ends in C. Got that?” Aronov has worked with the original Lighthouse All Stars, with Terry Gibbs Quartet and Big Band, and vocalist June Christy. Road dues with Benny Goodman’s 14-piece band in the 1980s, where he met bassist Murray Wall-and with Jim Hall, Al Cohn, Lee Konitz, Herbie Mann, Budd Johnson, and Ruby Braff. Tom Melito is the capable percussionist on this excellent and very enjoyable CD.

Originally Published June 1, 1999