Scott McLeod Trio: The Scott McLeod Trio

Tenor saxophonist Scott McLeod’s smoking, eponymous trio CD with organist Ryan Weaver and drummer Brian Sullivan is a straightahead affair. Trumpeter and producer Jon Thornton joins the group on three tracks. The young Charlotte, N.C. musicians acquit themselves admirably at every turn. The leader’s throaty tenor work conveys a bristling, Michael Brecker-like modernity (with shades of Billy Harper, too), while he also molds notes and phrases in the manner of older players such as Lockjaw Davis and Illinois Jacquet. Weaver is a riveting organist more along the lines of Larry Young rather than Jimmy Smith.