RON REIDER, Compositions in Blue and Other Hues

Since unleashing his pent up musical passion on his brilliant Brazilian samba/Afro-Cuban jazz debut album Latin Jazz Sessions in 2024, there’s been no stopping composer, arranger and producer Ron Reider, a successful physical scientist who made music on the side whenever he had the chance, waiting for the right opportunity to record with the perfect dream teams of jazz musicians to help him realize his unique, stylistically varied visions.

One his third album Compositions in Blue and Other Hues, he shifts from the Latin energies of his first two projects to an alternately supercharged and sensually soulful trad-jazz repertoire of original tunes that venture into swing, bebop, stride, lush bluesy balladry and beyond.

Guiding his intuitive and perfectly in synch crew of Boston based veterans John Lockwood (bass), Maxim Lubarsky (piano), Yaure Muniz (trumpet), Mike Tucker (tenor sax) and Mark Walker (drums), Reider spins an adventure that ventures from a delirious, speedy paced “Dizzy Spell” (featuring Muniz playing the explosive, otherworldly Gillespie role) through the freewheeling, improv-rich barnburning bopper “Java Mania,” with exciting stops along the way that include the lilting “The Butterfly Waltz,” the plucky, Fats Waller styled “Interlude: Amingus Amonkus,” the moody, easy swaying “Rainy Day” and the funky, perfectly titled “Cruising with the Top Down,” featuring one of Lubarsky’s most explosive piano solos.