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Alto saxophonist Sherman Irby, who was recently in town with Roy Hargrove's Latin jazz super group Crisol, wrote eight of the ten tunes on this outing of bebop, blues, and ballads. The compositions are virtual launching pads for the extended soloing by the band, which includes James Hurt (piano), Eric Revis (bass), and Dana Murray (drums), with the bulk of the solos going to Irby. Of special note is the slow ballad treatment given to John Coltrane's usually super up-tempo "Giant Steps". Although Irby obviously has chops to spare, he utilizes them wisely - twisting, turning, deconstructing and reconstructing each of his song's somewhat transient melodies. Sometimes, though, the mid tempo grooves start sounding so much the same that by the time you’re thirty minutes into the CD, you feel like you’ve already heard this before. But overall, it’s a fine blowing session in the purely straight ahead jazz vein, with not even a hint of that pop / r&b fluff which too often gets passed off as jazz.

3 Stars

Mark Towns

Check out track samples and other info for Sherman Irby: 'Full Circle' on Music Boulevard.