Bloom/Funkhouser Duo: Exuberant Ellingtonia, Flute & Piano Sessions
Americas Musicworks

As a title, Exuberant Ellingtonia honours the jazz giant and his tremendous songbook, but it also alludes to the joy flutist Peter H. Bloom and pianist John Funkhouser experienced in bringing these performances to fruition. In a collection featuring familiar and lesser-known pieces, their affection for Duke's material, be it a ballad or swing tune, is always evident. Classics such as “In a Sentimental Mood” and “Sophisticated Lady” appear alongside compositions by Billy Strayhorn (“Chelsea Bridge”) and Duke's son Mercer (“Things Ain't What They Used to Be”), and a surprise or two surfaces during the trip too.

The musicians bring a lifetime's worth of playing to the project. Veterans of the renowned Aardvark Jazz Orchestra, Bloom and Funkhouser have performed together for more than twenty-five years and are capable of handling anything thrown their way, from bebop and blues to Latin, free improv, and standards. While the flutist has appeared on almost fifty recordings, the pianist's discography lists more than eighty. Each has played with a broad range of artists, among them Geri Allen and Ran Blake, and at clubs, concert halls, and festivals around the world.

The fourteen performances were laid down in but a single day in November 2020, but they show no flagging of energy. It's high the moment the boisterous “Rockin' in Rhythm” initiates the release, a freewheeling Bloom leading the charge and Funkhouser with him note for note. The pianist's versatility comes through early when echoes of stride emerge in his solo, not the only time that happens (see, for example, “I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart”); even better are the trade-offs the two indulge in before taking the tune out with unison statements. Immediately thereafter, the first of many exquisite ballad treatments appears, “In a Sentimental Mood,” with the flutist giving vibrato-rich voice to the writing and his partner distinguishing the performance with a blues-drenched solo. At such moments, it's eminently clear that Duke's in excellent hands.

The poetic mysteries of “Chelsea Bridge” and “Sophisticated Lady” are well-accounted for in the duo's warm, nuanced renderings of the adored classics. “Isfahan,” from Strayhorn and Ellington's Far East Suite (1967), feels particularly well-suited to the intimacy of a flute-piano duet, given the composition's alluring dreaminess, and the players' refined sides also come to the fore during their elegant “Prelude to a Kiss.” The jubilation the two convey in their swinging performances of “I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart,”“Cottontail,” and Strayhorn's “Take the ‘A' Train” is veritably palpable. Following a flamboyant piano intro, “Caravan,” Duke's familiar collaboration with Juan Tizol, settles into its exotic Latin-tinged groove. Whereas traces of the blues surface in a number of songs, it's most overtly expressed in the rollicking shuffle driving “Things Ain't What They Used to Be.” Another surprise arrives in the the gospel-flavoured intro to “Jump for Joy,” with Funkhouser coyly sneaking in an “In Walked Bud” reference in his later solo.

January 2022