T Jarrod Bonta quickly has earned a reputation as one of the top session piano player, especially on the Austin scene, playing the 88 keys with Shaun Young, the Horton Brothers, Nick Curran, Marti Brom, The Cornell Hurd Band, Dave Stuckey and many others.
In 2000 he released one Ep on Texas Jamboree under his own name filled with first class Honky Tonk and Western Bop.
This cd, recorded in 2006 shows another face of his talent: the jazz one. You can hear a lot of Nat King Trio on this album as well as Art Tatum and Teddy Wilson. And Jim Stringer on guitar makes a convincing Oscar Moore. The other band members are Beau Sample on bass, Paul Schlichting on drums and JD Pendley and Dave Biller guest on two songs.
Bonta also ventures into more modern fields evoking both Brubeck (some vamping patterns) and Thelonious Monk (notably on Monkin' Around). Every song benefits from tight arrangement and a command that comes straight from a classically trained player.
10 songs are originals (7 by Bonnta and 3 by Jim Stringer), the other 2 are Some Of These Days and Please Don't Talk About Me on which Bonta sings
Buy it at CdBaby
Fred "Virgil" Turgis