Steel Jazz Trio and Friends- Black Licorice

This is an unusual jazz album—pedal steel guitar is a rarely-used instrument in jazz recording and this is a self-produced album by a group who came together in the music department at Five Towns College on Long Island, NY. On this CD there are fourteen original compositions making an hour of interesting listening. Brian Dumont is leader and pedal steel guitarist; Brandon Nichol is on guitar; Jared Burnett, bass; Tyler Odell, keyboards and saxophone; and Anthoney Bryan, drums. Each member of the team contributes several tunes with the exception of the drummer. Consequently, each instrumentalist gets his share of the musical spotlight. In a phone interview with pedal steel guitarist Brian Dumont, I learned that the group has been together for only one year and that this is their second album. The individual members were interconnected through their associations in the music department at Five Towns College. It is somewhat of a challenge to describe new compositions because both the listener and the reviewer don’t have previous auditory experience with which to compare. Let me just say that this CD makes for interesting listening throughout. A few words are in order related to pedal steel guitar, as this is a somewhat rare instrument in jazz circles. The instrument is normally about the same height as a piano keyboard. The player sits and usually the left hand moves a me