The Album – “Honest Company”

In the early evening of the first Saturday of each month, the patrons of an intimate lounge located in the small town of Smiths Falls, Ontario, are rewarded with what is arguably the finest music played in any locale in our country. The language that flows from this stage is the product of two quite disparate personas.

Brian Browne, now a septuagenarian, has played concert halls, bars and beyond for over 55 years. He is recognized as one of the top-ranked jazz pianists now gracing this instrument. Because of his vast experience performing he is blessed with an intuitive sense of his audience. He embodies both the uncomplicated swing of a Teddy Wilson and the inventive rhythm of the early stride pianists.

Peter Woods is a younger man who has developed as a consummate saxophonist, both tenor and soprano. His melodic playing is reminiscent of the great Ben Webster. He is the popular minister of a local church, and a number of the selections in this collection display that influence.

Both Browne and Woods, fine musicians, are improvisers who never deviate far from the melodic line in their excellent selection of great standards. As Count Basie emphasized, they never play too many notes. They play music that is warm and evocative of cherished memories of different times and different people in our lives.

Jack Kirkland, Q.C.

Tracks

1. Down by the Riverside 2:17 Traditional
2. Goin’ Home 4:16 Traditional
3. Trouble in Mind 4:58 Richard Jones, Bug Music
4. Resignation 3:31 Traditional
5. The Long and Winding Road 3:40 Lennon/McCartney, Sony/ATV
6. The Preacher 3:36 Horace Silver, Silhouette Music
7. Over the Rainbow 5:35 Harold Arlen, MGM/EMI
8. Tender Mercies 6:18 Woods and Browne, Rooster McFeathers
9. Peace 3:24 Horace Silver, Ecaroh Music
10. Old Folks 4:26 Willard Robison, WB Music
11. A Child is Born 4:20 Thad Jones, D’Accord Music
12. Makin’ Whoopee 4:50 Walter Donaldson, WB Music
13. God Bless the Child 6:30 Billie Holiday/Arthur Herzog, Jr., Edward B. Marks Music Co.
14. LondonDerry Air 5:40 5:40 Traditional

Album Sample – “Down by the Riverside”

02 WB Track 02