Good Times

October 16, 1997

 

The state of jazz in Santa Cruz County? Doing fine, thank you - at least judging by vocalist Ron Kaplan's debut release, "High Standards". The title works two ways. With an all-star band including bassist Stan Poplin, drummer Steve Robertson, pianist Smith Dobson and sax greats Donny McCaslin, Jr. and Paul Contos, Kaplan obviously demands (and gets) much from his sidemen. And filled with time-honored favorites like "Summertime" and "Autumn Leaves." the album covers the work horses of jazz repertoire. The whole thing is full of tasteful arrangements and topnotch performance. Kaplan has a robust voice in the mold of Mel Torme and enough musical sense to step aside and let the band take a few choruses in the middle of songs.

Though standards, the 11 cuts on "High Standards" certainly aren't run-of-the-mill fare. Arrangers Kaplan, Dobson and Robertson put together some smoking reworkings that reveal the thoroughbred grace of tunes often treated in the hands of hacks like mules.

- R.P.