Ian Hendrickson-Smith "Still Smokin'"

[Soul Stream]

Let me put in a plug for a friend of mine. And I'm not just recommending this for that reason. But Ian's new CD, a live recording from the Smoke club in NYC is a killer. Without knowing it was him, I heard "Memories Of You" from this CD on the radio and knew I HAD to pick this up. When the announcer came on a said it was Ian, I shouldn't have been surprised but was caught off guard.

There's a killer group on this one with Ryan Kisor, Peter Bernstein, David Hazeltine, Peter Washington and Joe Strasser. This ain't pushin boundaries...just great swinging Hard Bop served up by some guys who know how to do it.

If you haven't heard Ian Hendrickson-Smith, do yourself a favor and pick this one up. He's a wonderful Alto player, I think you'll dig. And a super humble and funny guy too.

[Jim Alfredson]

I saw this advertised in a recent issue of Downbeat and remembered his name from the Adam Scone disc. With Peter Bernstein and Hazeltine on board, I'll definitely be picking this one up.

[Soul Stream]

Jim, if your only exposure to Ian is through the Scone discs, I think your head might explode when you put the CD on! It's quite a different thing as you've probably guessed.

Anyway, I've had the pleasure of playing with Ian...and he can play the blues or Cherokee with equal love. He's a real pleasure musically. Plays music, not tries to blow you away right off the bat.

Shows you how tough New York City. Ian's been struggling there for a while (he's 31), and even though people are finally getting a little taste of him through his 2nd Sharp Nine CD, he still plays a lot of funk gigs (Hot Pants Funk Review, also just played Bari with Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings on a european tour recently)....so it's tough out there no doubt. But Ian is always in a sunny mood and a great, likeable guy. Hope people dig him soon.

[Soul Stream]

Just up for a little visibility. Wondered if anybody had a chance to hear this since the original post.

[Cornelius]

Yes, there are some real good tracks. The musicians play with wonderful fluency in the idiom - with beautiful feeling and some originality. One of the very best hard bop albums I've heard in the last few years.

Edited January 11, 2005 by Cornelius

[Jim Alfredson]

I still need to pick this up.

I buy so few CDs these days that I have made it my mission to buy only new releases.

[Sundog]

Peter Bernstein? I'm in.