The Sugar Hill Suite

The musicians address a narrow window within a broad perspective. The recording as a whole describes a memory of the epitome of the Harlem Renaissance and how musicians came out of that time still longing for a recurrence of the dream of the focal point which was Sugar Hill- where resided the quintessence of the African-American culture…. one whole world within a geometry of avenues and streets. The music possesses a substantive subtlety. It is taut and somewhat restrained, even though the fluidity of McPhee’s tenor lines overrides the tightness of the rhythm section. The music is soft even when it is loud. The music grows out of melody into abstraction easily, without fracture. -Lyn Horton, jazzreview.com