When it comes to jazz the combo of Cory Weeds and the Cellar Live label have become pretty well benchmarks to measure against in terms of the Canadian scene. Of course Weeds is the man behind the label, and the Jazz Cellar, a club in Vancouver where most of the labels CDs are captured. With Everythings Coming Up Weeds, that trend certainly continues, as The Cory Weeds Quintet cooks its way through a delightful selection of nine songs."

As you might expect the music here is highly driven by Weeds tenor saxophone work. That is a good thing since he really knows his way around the sax.

Weeds though knows a quintet is not a one-man show, and at times the rest of the band is given its time to shine. Joining Weeds in the quintet are Jim Rotondi on trumpet, Ross Taggart, piano, John Webber, bass, and Willie Jones III on drums. For example, the drums get some lovin on Ellas Walk.

Weeds, Taggart and Rotondi also have their hand in writing almost all of the music here, which adds some intimacy to the performance.

While the disk is generally an upbeat one, Little Unknown One slows the pace down considerably, and is a beautiful piece of music, made all the sweeter as it stands out against the rest of the material here. If you like jazz, check this one out www.cellarlive.com. Its just what great jazz is supposed to be.

- Calvin Daniels, Yorkton This Week

O's Notes: We've come to love and appreciate Cory's Jazz Cellar in Vancouver with the many fine live recordings made there. Weeds produced those sessions and played sax on a few as well. Cory is the leader on this CD and he is evolving into a major contributor in this light as well! He surrounds himself with a strong team including pianist Ross Taggart who contributes a couple of originals to the session. Willie Jones (d), John Webber (b) and Jim Rotondi (t) round out the quintet. The music swings hard with spirited solos anchors with tight rhythms. Weeds composed four of the nine compositions notably the warm ballad Little Unknown One. We also liked Biru Kirusai, a burner, and B. B.'s Blue Blues. There is a lot of good jazz emanating in the Northwest!"

- Oscar Groomes, O's Place Jazz

Vancouver-based saxophonist and jazz entrepreneur Cory Weeds is one busy dude. He runs the Cellar Restaurant/Jazz Club, a famed Vancouver hangout where the Philly-born organist Joey DeFrancesco has played and plans to record early next year. Weeds also runs a label, appears regularly on radio, and plays some mean saxophone with his quintet. Who says you can't have a jazz life?

Weeds was trained at Vancouver's Capilano College and in the University of North Texas' celebrated jazz program. Appearing here with New York-based trumpeter Jim Rotondi, along with pianist Ross Taggart, bassist John Webber, and drummer Willie Jones III, Weeds exudes a Jazz Messengers-like ferocity. The set intersperses hard-bop originals from Weeds, Rotondi, and Taggart along with a comely take of the Frank Loesser standard, "I've Never Been in Love Before. Weeds, who has played funk-laced jazz with Dr. Lonnie Smith, keeps that freshness in mind in his compositions. His "Bailin' on Lou" crackles with energy, while "Little Unknown One" is a sensuous ballad."

- K.S., The Philadelphia Inquirer

From Cory Weeds, who must be the busiest man in Vancouver, what with his Cellar jazz club, Cellar Live record label, radio show and newborn son, comes Everything's Coming Up Weeds. In January this year, he and pianist Ross Taggart traveled to record in New Jersey with some of New York's hard-bop elite, namely trumpeter Jim Rotondi, bassist John Webber and drummer Willie Jones III -- not that there aren't hard-swinging, bop-versed Vancouverites that he could have tapped, such as trumpeter Brad Turner, bassist Jodi Proznick and drummer Jesse Cahill, to name just three.

As I've written here, Weeds is a professed traditionalist, which you can even see from his disc's retro cover. The disc's opener, B.B.'s Blues Blues by Taggart, is a shuffle straight out of the 1959 Art Blakey book. Taggart wrote two more tunes on the disc including the fun harmonic slalom Ella's Walk. Weeds wrote four.He's fine with riffier melodies, including the old-time funk of Bailin' On Lou (Donaldson, I'm guessing) and the closer, The Pour, a Moaningesque blowing vehicle. His brisk 323 Shuter makes me think of the classic Sonny Stitt tune The Eternal Triangle. Rotondi brought in one tune, the surging minor tune Biru Kirusai, and the disc's lone standard is I've Never Been In Love Before, which features a bit of waltzing fun before it settle into its 4/4 swing.

Indeed, 4/4 swinging is where it's at for Weeds and his band, and they do it as naturally as breathing. The disc's chief attractions are the assured soloing and big sounds from Weeds, Rotondi and Taggart, and the perfect pocket from Webber and Jones. No need for lofty thoughts about innovating or stretching the bounds of jazz -- just sit back and dig.

- Peter Hum, Ottawa Citizen

Thanks for bringing us the Cory Weeds album. No hastily put-together blowing session, this is a spirited performance of a thoughtfully planned and arranged repertoire. I like it a lot.

- Terry MacDonald, Jazz Director, WSCA, Portsmouth, NH

Weeds is best known as the owner of the Jazz Cellar on Broadway but his jazz label, Cellar Live, has produced a consistently good line of albums. Naturally, he has recorded himself on sax and fits right in. It's great to see that someone who stands for something he professes to love can also back his talk up with proof. Here he and his group pay tribute to a variety of styles but perhaps the standout is the opening track, "B.B.'s Blue Blues," a composition by Ross Taggert that swings mightily.

- Tom Harrison, The Vancouver Province

A superb CD, by a tremendous tenor player! Everything's Coming Up Weeds may I suggest Everything's Coming Up Roses! I'm quite familiar with Cory Weeds and his music, he is just great!

The group is perfect, and they deserve worldwide recognition, I will certainly do my bid to help them to achieve this. Thank you so much for sending this excellent CD to me."

- Peter Kuller, Radio Adelaide, Austrailia

One could suppose that, given Cory Weeds' position as owner of The Cellar jazz club and associated label, that his records are mere vanity projects, but if the first album from his quintet didn't convince you otherwise (and it should have), then this one will. It's a solid bop/post-bop recording with pleasant soloing and interesting writing. "Little Unknown One" is suitably sensitive and mellow, while the shuffle "Bailin' on Lou" is energetic without getting frenetic. In fact, you could almost say, given the style of play, that this recording came from the wrong coast.

- Daniel Klein, CILU Thunder Bay Ontario

So there are two ways this can go: either I tear the Cory Weeds Quintet a new one for bringing nothing fresh to the jazz table or I go easy on the boys and prepare myself for a reaming from frequent Payback Time letter-writer Darryl Zimmerman, who seems to have taken on my old job as self-appointed champion of the improvisational avant-garde. Hmmm. Guess Ill take my chances with Zimbo.

So long as youre not looking for new concepts, Everything's Coming Up Weeds is a very likable package of very familiar sounds, played with grace and enthusiasm by five consummate pros. How saxophonist Weeds manages to sound so assured while undertaking two of the worlds most thankless jobsjazz-nightclub owner and record-label bossis a mystery, but here his forthright, bluesy tenor brims with confidence. The rest of the band follows suit, with pianist Ross Taggart deserving special mention for his spare, supportive comping behind the other soloists."

Sure, this is West Coast lifestyle jazz, having more to do with Sunday drives up the Sea-to-Sky than the nitty-gritty urban realities that spawned the hard-bop style more than 50 years ago. The pleasures offered here are tamebut that doesnt mean theyre not also real.

- Alex Varty, Georgia Straight (Vancouver, BC)