Album: A Ride To the Other Side... [Digipak]

Song Title

Time

Funky Straight

Ride To the Other Side

Mac Daddy Grip

Be One

Bugabug

God's Gift

Lazara

Just a Touch

Of Infinity

Album: A Ride To the Other Side... [Digipak]

Song Title

Time

Funky Straight

Ride To the Other Side

Mac Daddy Grip

Be One

Bugabug

God's Gift

Lazara

Just a Touch

Of Infinity

Performer Notes

Personnel: Rob Dixon (tenor saxophone); Derrick Gardner (trumpet); Vincent Gardner (trombone); Anthony Wonsey (piano); Rodney Whitaker (upright bass); Donald Edwards (drums); Kevin Kaiser (percussion).
Many jazz fans maintain that, when it came to hot-cooking, hard-swinging hard bop, few bands could equal assorted editions of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. Apparently, trumpeter Derrick Gardner can be counted among those fans, as RIDE TO THE OTHER SIDE is virtually a tribute to Blakey in all but name. RIDE recalls those editions of the Messengers when trumpeters Freddie Hubbard and Wynton Marsalis were members--Gardner has a searing, rippling, crackling sound like Hubbard in his mid-1960s Blue Note days. Evoking the best of Blakey (and Frank Foster and pre-funk Donald Byrd), RIDE is vibrant hard-bop featuring catchy, moody melodies, with subtle overtones of funk and afro-Cuban motifs to spice things up.

Professional Reviews

Down Beat (p.88) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "The Prophets are tight....The rhythms section locks in the pocket, the band executes the charts precisely and every solo is strong."

JazzTimes (p.63) - "Bright, robust, assertively swinging solos from the horns and the brawny piano of Anthony Wonsey would be enough to recommend this CD as a worthy straightahead jazz endeavor. But what makes it better than average is the high quality of the fresh material..."