Chris Hopkins Meets The Young Lions Vol. 2 – Live

A top-notch swing and classic jazz pianist based in Germany, Chris Hopkins is also an excellent alto-saxophonist. In 2025 he released an album on his Echoes Of Swing label titled Meets The Young Lions Volume 1 that teamed him in a quintet with trumpeter-cornetist Thimo Niesterok, guitarist-singer Tijn Trommelen, bassist Caris Hermes, and drummer Mathieu Clement. Meets The Young Lions Volume 2 Live features the same musicians but with a twist.

The first three of the nine standards on this CD have Clement switching to vibes while on three numbers Hopkins, who exclusively played piano on the first volume, is featured on alto. The result is that with the constant changes of the instrumentation, there is a lot of unexpected variety.

The program begins with the straight-ahead blues “Bags’ Groove.” Clement is quite credible on vibes while Hopkins’ piano playing is in a sparse Count Basie style. Niesterok, who was absent on “Bags’ Groove,” shares the melody with Clement’s vibes during a tasteful version of “These Foolish Things.” “Jive At Five” features the group as an alto-trumpet-vibes-guitar-bass quintet with the muted Niesterok having a good spot.

Hopkins is in the spotlight on alto during “Stardust” with bassist Hermes bowing during the verse. “Just You, Just Me” with Clement on drums is in a Gerry Mulligan-type West Coast cool jazz style including a fine tradeoff by the two horns and a vocal from Trommelen.

Hopkins is back on piano for the final four numbers which include Trommelen vocals on “I’m Confessin’” and “The Lady Is A Tramp,” a Latin groove during “Night And Day” and a trumpet showcase on an instrumental rendition of “Rockin’ Chair.”

Everything works well during the mainstream swing set which, as with the first volume, helps to introduce the talents of the four younger players to a larger audience while featuring Chris Hopkins in prime form.

Chris Hopkins Meets The Young Lions Vol. 2 – Live
Echoes Of Swing EOSP 4515
www.hopkinsjazz.com and www.amazon.com

Scott Yanow

Since 1975 Scott Yanow has been a regular reviewer of albums in many jazz styles. He has written for many jazz and arts magazines, including JazzTimes, Jazziz, Down Beat, Cadence, CODA, and the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, and was the jazz editor for Record Review. He has written an in-depth biography on Dizzy Gillespie for AllMusic.com. He has authored 11 books on jazz, over 900 liner notes for CDs and over 20,000 reviews of jazz recordings. Yanow was a contributor to and co-editor of the third edition of the All Music Guide to Jazz. He continues to write for Downbeat, Jazziz, the Los Angeles Jazz Scene, the Jazz Rag, the New York City Jazz Record and other publications.