Nathan Eklund Group "The Crooked Line"

       There’s nothing curvy about “The Crooked Line,” the music here is terrific straight ahead jazz played by five young lions of jazz led by trumpeter and composer Nathan Eklund. The group performs in the very competitive New York jazz scene and presents their second CD with this recording.

       While Eklund plays the trumpet and flugelhorn, he relies on his band mates to supply the musical support that makes this album a great listen. Craig Yaremko is featured on the tenor and alto saxes, Joe Elefante plays the piano while bassist Brian Killeen and drummer Josh Dion round out the rhythm section.

       Except for three cover tunes, the material here are Eklund originals. The album opens up with the leader on the flugelhorn on “The Mayor,” a fast moving arrangement with solid solos from Yaremko on alto, the pianist and finishing with a firm drum roll.

       With a touch of the waltz, the group moves to a beautiful melody on the second piece, “Emancipated Thinking” behind elegant piano riffs from Elefante later joined by Eklund again on the flugelhorn and Yaremko on the tenor and even the bassist joins in. This one is clearly one of the best cuts on the album.

       The fourth track is a mere 27 seconds long, is all bassist Killeen and is the prelude to the intricate, “Scatterbrained,” where Eklund shines on the trumpet and plays off Yaremko’s sax in a two-horn section that also team up on the soft slow ballad of “More Ways Than One.”

       The album rounds out with the Kern/Hammerstein chart “All The Things You Are,” Lee Morgan’s “Totem Pole,” and the nine-minute burner of a finale and title cut, “The Crooked Line.”

       Hats off to Nathan Eklund and crew for “The Crooked Line,” is one heck of a recording. With challenging and intelligent charts, and a performance delivered with swagger and confidence, this is one disc that aficionados and jazz audiences everywhere will appreciate.

--Edward Blanco, ejazznews.com; November 22, 2007