Thomas Marriott at Tula's Friday April 13 2012

Caught Thomas Marriott at Tula's. Exquisite set with top notch players. Marc Searles on the keys was golden. Had a killer sound with delay and sustain, provided this deep layer underneath everything.  Sometimes he'd have one hand on the keyboard and one hand on the grand piano.  So tasteful. That's a good word for the quartet overall.  The sounds Marriott coaxes out of his trumpet and flugal horn are rich and melodic. Bassist Jeff Johnson and D’Vonne Lewis on drums never overplayed, but kept it cookin.  Cool to hear some new tunes; you could sense the band was exploring them for the first time -- Marriott would play the head, take a solo, and then sit down and listen to what the band did with his composition.