Gavin 7/31/98
 Here's a record that's welI worth grabbing from your stacks and giving a second spin. Tenor saxophonist Andy Farber and trombonist Andrew Williams, both former players with Wynton Marsalis, have recorded quality duo-bandleader record of nice traditional acoustic jazz. If the Liston/Martin worked for you, Double A is a little more seasoned and robust.
 

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CityLink

 With a couple of young guns out front on sax and trombone, and a pair of jazz vets anchoring the rhythm section, Double 'A' is a satisfying straight-ahead jazz session
in the hardbop-postbop fashion of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers or early '6Os Miles Davis... This isn't about angst or hanging fire, but rather exploring some fairly standard melodic terrain in a sweet and somewhat relaxed manner.
Tenor and alto saxman Farber... offers a laid-back, bluesy tone, just right on Gerry Mulligan's playful "Festive Minor" or doing a breathy Ben Webster impression on a lush read of the gorgeous evergreen "Nearness of You." Farber's originals, like the sleepy opener "Some of You" and the soiid groover "Shag Bag," sound like they could have been lifted directly off someone's Blue Note Record collection back in the early '60s. In fact, this entire record sounds as if it had been preserved in amber from that most jazz-friendly era.
For his part, Williams... wrings sighs from his trombone, harmonizing beautifully with Farber and displaying a melancholy tone on the ballads, showcased magnificently on Rodgers and Hart's "It Never Entered My Mind," the very essence of late-night regret.

-Bob Weinberg

 

 Gary Stevens
  ...Putting myself in the mythical listening room, I was engrossed lending ears to a superior jazz CD tagged "double 'A'." The label for this spirited item is After 9. Andy Farber, an outstanding tenor sax man, is teamed with Andrew Williams, who plays compelling trombone. Assisting the horn man and his companion on the' bone are Paul Gill as the bassist, Clarence Bean and Sacha Perry alternating as pianists. Original
pieces of music, including the title tune, are augmented by standards (given inter-
polative and freewheeling treatments), the likes of "I Believe In You" and "The Nearness Of You." What comes across on this CDelight are memories of nights eons ago at the Village Vanguard and Birdland .
-Gary Stevens