CORY WEEDS QUINTET/Live at Frankie’s Jazz Club: Basically a tribute to Blue Note by this crew of pro vets that know how to cook, just trust they aren’t manqueing around as they all blow from the heart and play jazz the way it was meant to be played---all in a way newbies, moldy figs and everyone in between can agree on. Solidly tasty throughout, all you can do here is still back and marvel at the crew doing their thing. Killer stuff throughout.
-Chris Spector, Midwest Record
Take away the sinuous vocalastics of Philip Bailey and the rollicking bass lines of Verdine White and replace them with the consummate acuity and effortless poise of Cory Weeds on alto saxophone and the kinetics of Mike LeDonne’s Hammond B3 organ and you still have the many splendoured music of Earth Wind & Fire ebulliently deployed and uplifting on Let’s Groove . The saxophonist and the organist bring the music alive in a wholly new idiom, their airy nimbleness matched with a richness of sound that has all to do with the dynamic range and balance of both instrumentation – the atmospheric howl of woodwinds and the low growl of the Hammond – and ingenious reharmonisation of familiar repertoire from the iconic ensemble.
-Toronto Music Report
As a fine musician and businessman, Cory knows how to produce recordings with great artistic integrity, and salability. By recording some of the best musicians locally, nationally and internationally, and with excellent graphics and art work, Cory has documented important moments of history for this art form.
– Ross Taggart, Jazz Saxophonist
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In my 35 years of playing professionally in the Vancouver music scene, I would consider Cory to be the most successful and important promoter and producer of Canadian Jazz in the Vancouver area.
– Oliver Gannon, Jazz Guitarist
The hardest working man in the jazz-business!
– Kate Hammett-Vaughan, Jazz Vocalist
Alto saxophonist Cory Weeds, the shows star took a wild ride on the band’s rhythm as if it would carry him off the stage.
– Peter Goddard, The Toronto Star
The Cellar is one of those special jazz clubs and I just love it. I had a ball playing with Cory’s band: he’s such a dear heart and a great musician.
– Dr. Lonnie Smith, Jazz Organist
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Shade was at a premium as fans gathered beneath the maple trees by Gassy Jack’s statue, late on Saturday afternoon (June 26), to hear local jazz-funksters Crash and their special guest Dr. Lonnie Smith. The Hammond B3 organ veteran smiled beatifically throughout a sizzling set, as he carved out deep and bluesy grooves, launched into swirling runs, and punched out chords to accompany saxophonists Corry Weeds and Jerry Cook. Smith moaned and groaned James Brown fashion on ‘Your Mama’s Got a Complex’, pounding the keys while singing ‘She thinks she’s hot, but hot she’s not’, and the saxophones mimicked a train on ‘Leaving on Track Number Nine’. Gassy Jack himself would have hooted approvingly back.”
– Guy McPherson, Georgia Straight
Vancouver funk group Crash has a regular guest artist in Hammond B3 Organist Dr. Lonnie Smith, and Smith and the boys energize each other with each track on this date, recorded live at The Cellar. Alto saxophonist Cory Weeds and drummer Bernie Arai let fly on the 10 minute opener ‘Love Bowl’ and tenor saxophonist and guitarist Dave Sikula keeps the 12 minute ‘Nick’s Kick’ kicking hard. The other tracks, though not as long as these two, move and shake as well.”
– Marke Andrews, Vancouver Sun
The Doctor is Lonnie Smith, whose medical specialty is treatment of a Hammond B3. Crash is a Vancouver quintet that plays an instrumental jazz that incorporates funk. Put Smith and Crash together, record them live in The Cellar and the result is remarkably bluesy with generous space for soloing. The band is busy but tight on grooves that recall James Brown while Smith colours everything with the rich, but piercing, tone of the Hammond. Smith stabs and jabs or counters Crash with a rhythmic precision that is marvelous. It’s a record steeped in mutual respect.”
– Tom Harrison, Vancouver Province
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