DownBeat Magazine 2015

Nancy Wright, Putting Down Roots (Direct Hit 107; 53:18)

Nancy Wright, a San Francisco-based saxophonist with extensive studio and road credits, displays a confident versatility on the original material she’s brought together for her second feature album. Her tenor is, by turns, slathered with Noble “Thin Man” Watts Southern-fried grease, robust with King Curtis soulfulness and buffed to a gleam with pungent Junior Walker funk. Beyond sharing affinities with past greats, Wright carries her own ideas about flutter-tonguing technique and deployment of the entire range of her horn. She’s also a talented songwriter—her instrumentals range in stylistic breadth from John Lee Hooker boogie to New Orleans r&b to James Brown funk—and a good singer who’s on target about steamy relationships.

Ordering info: nancywrightmusic.com

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