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Don Stiernberg - Unseasonably Cool
Reviewed by David McCarty

If it's beastly hot and humid without a breath of fresh air and suddenly the purest, sweetest jazz mandolin you've ever heard comes pouring out of your stereo like a cool rain falling on a brutal August afternoon, then it must be Unseasonably Cool.

Mandolin Magazine's jazz columnist Don Stiernberg is well-known to virtually every reader of this magazine. And when it comes to coaxing reverent renditions of jazz classics from the mandolin, no one does it better than Don.

Building on the success of his last release, About Time, Don brings the same basic band to this recording, giving the new CD the relaxed, confident feel of musicians who've worked together many times.

Lead guitarist Curt Morrison plays in a clear-toned, carefully voiced acoustic style, while bassist Jim Cox shows why he's one of Chicago's most in-demand musicians. Kevin Connelly on drums knows just how to support the percussive sound of a mandolin here.

This is a tight group that swings like mad. The tune selection just shines on this CD. Don draws on the broad repertoire of jazz, giving us Latin-tinged pieces like Estate and straight-up jazz standards like Love Come Back To Me. No Don Stiernberg CD would be complete without a cover from a 1960s television show, and here it's the Theme from Mannix. Surprisingly, this time around we don't get to hear Don sing one; always a treat with his laid-back, unselfconscious singing style.

Given the choice of great musicians around him, there're plenty of excellent solos, like Morrison's swinging guitar break on Will You Still Be Mine? Guest soloist Art Davis drops in some superb work on trumpet, such as his great muted solo on I Cover The Waterfront.

But leading it all is the sublime, masterful mandolin of Don Stiernberg. Every note he plays seems placed perfectly like a brush stroke in an Impressionist's masterpiece, yet his playing is infused with a sense of wonder and exploration that always leaves the listener guessing where his next note may fall.

Don presents each solo with warmth, charm, sophistication and joy, the mark of a true master at the top of his form.

Unseasonably Cool is an album to revel in and enjoy over and over again. I know I'll be pulling this one out even when the mercury dips to its lowest point of the season.

(Blue Night Records, P.O. Box 4951, Skokie, IL 60076-4951 )

Song List: Where or When, More Than You Know, Estate, Will You Still Be Mine?, Easy Living, Lover Come Back To Me, I Cover The Waterfront, Baby Won't You Please Come Home, Ghost of a Chance, Happy Reunion, New Orleans, Theme from Mannix

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