Lyn's Une - Alyn Cosker - The Jazz Breakfast

The young Scottish drummer would have made a pretty good album with his same-generation mates Ross Hamilton on bass, David Dunsmuir on guitar and Paul Towndrow on saxophones. The fact that he also has the slightly older Tommy Smith on tenor and Smith's one-time pianist Jason Rebello in on the sessions as well, makes this a particularly lively listen.

Take the opener, Oh Dear. It's the kind of funky fusiony (in a good sense) thing the Yellowjackets might do, and Dunsmuir raises the temperature right away with a fiery solo. But then in comes Smith and takes it even further up the thermometer. The man who has done more than anyone else to make sure his homeland's jazz life is vibrant really sounds like he is enjoying himself with the lesser responsibilities of just being a sideman.

Not that Cosker sounds overwhelmed with the duties of being the leader. He writes excellent tunes, does tricky things with the timings (well, you'd expect that of a drummer) and the band has great cohesion and character.  It's the "everybody's having a damn fine time" feel along with some equally damn fine playing that makes this one to search out.

And what does the title mean - Cosker explains that his dad had typed Alyn's Tune quickly and omitted the caps...