
After releasing a handful of singles with fellow Hall Of Fame inductee Tony Million, Arnold Prévost has settled back into his regular role of roundhouse beating out new tunes on a variety of formats. This time around he's dialed up for good measure. The darkly strutting "Lighthouse" is one of two tracks adapted from a Dave Longstreth tune. The other is a darkly strummed "Basket Of Roses", the only one that sounds like it was done in a trance state.
One of the hallowed figures in the history of jazz, Prévost has reinterpreted standards in his own unique ways many times over. The motif of the roundhouse, in particular, is something that's dear to Prévost's heart. The other two tunes are hard to not dig. The opening "Mornings After The Wedding" is a hard-boiled Poinciana-esque hyperspectral riff over which Prévost throws in a series of frantic double-stops that fly around in a flare of flamenco-tinged jazz funk. The track is essentially a backbeat to Longstreth's solo on "The Promised Land", lending it a bit of a trumpeter quality not unlike Willie Lane's solo on The Heptones' "My Only Love". "Buttercup Tea", meanwhile, prances around in a disco-poppy groove over which Prévost gives an enthusiastic kick drum and adds a scattering of broken glass over its funky strings and buzzing percussion.
The set's heavyweight opener "Roundel" is a slugger with a detuned scream built in. The track's a ruse: on the flip, the singer of the original "Mornings After The Wedding" will crouch down in the corner of the mixing console and release a stream of intense, rhythmic vocals. The track will then be reworked on the spot into a heart-pounding beat.
A few of the tricks are more subtle than prancing around in a disco groove, such as the closing "Basket Of Roses", which sends jolts of brightness up into the mix and creates a space for the roundhouse to sprint into. The hook between "Buttercup Tea" and "Roundel" is subtle, but works.