(Post-Bop, Contemporary Jazz) [CD] Tim Warfield (with Eddie Henderson, Orrin Evans, Ben Wolfe & Clarence Penn) - Spherical: Dedicated to Thelonious Sphere Monk - 2015 [Criss Cross], FLAC (tracks), lossless

Tim Warfield's eighth Criss Cross leader recording Spherical, which references the middle name of its primary subject, immortal jazz pianist-composer Thelonious Sphere Monk, is the tenor/soprano saxophonist's most idiosyncratic and personal document to date. To be specific, Warfield and an efflorescent quintet of virtuoso teamplayers personalize six Monk compositions (Off Minor, Ugly Beauty, Oska T, Gallop's Gallop, Coming on the Hudson, and Round Midnight) and That Old Man (which Monk recorded as 'Children's Song'in 1964), as well as an original Warfield blues dedicated to Monk's first employer, Coleman Hawkins. All members improvise with a creative force that shows the depth of their engagement with the essence of these masterworks; the will to swing defines the proceedings throughout.

Tim Warfield - tenor & soprano sax
Eddie Henderson - trumpet
Orrin Evans - piano
Ben Wolfe - bass
Clarence Penn - drums