Matt Ulery - Pollinator [WEB] (2020)

Usually recognized for his bass work, Matt Ulery uses the sousaphone to set the beat on this latest album that mixes the street sense of New Orleans marching bands with a dash of modern bop. The fellow parade members include James Davis/tp, Dustin laurenzi/ts, Steve Suncan/tb, Quin Qirchner/dr and Paul Bedal pulling along the piano. The team has fun strutting through “Droppin’ In” and feel Joplinesque during “Jelly” while the military snap on “Clown Drum” and “So Long, Toots” takes you along Bourbon Street. There is a West Coast Cool feel to “Cakes” with the horns weaving through some mellow bebop, and “Soup Talk” has a hint of a MIngusy feel when he’d give a tribute to early heroes of jazz. Ulery even takes the lead on a rich “Feed”, with the entire feel a mix of celebration of an earlier and happier time in music and life. by George W. Harris