Last night's rain moved off the coast this morning and the sun came blasting out, along with a brisk wind. The leaves that are left on the trees were lit up in various shades of neon-ish reds and yellows. I was in the mood for something upbeat, something irreverent, something...oh...just a little nutty.

Joey Baron's RAIsed pleasure dot was the answer. Here we have a (very) nonstandard "jazz" trio consisting of Ellery Eskelin on tenor saxophone, Steve Swell on trombone and the wacky-yet-precise drums of leader Joey Baron.

The music sways from the pensive "Boss Hog" (you wouldn't think a tune with that title would be pensive, would ya?), where unison sax and trombone carve out a searching melody, to absolutely raucus ("Unleashing The Dobermans").

As with most Baron-related recordings, there's also a goodly handful of humour. I mean, how can you not like a tune named "Hey, Hockaloogie"? It strikes me as a twisted, free-form take on the Three Stooges theme (and if that kind of thing gets you going, I urge you to check out Baron's Tongue In Groove...which contains the brutally crazy & fun "Scottie Pippen").

Things've been too serious recently.

(First posted on Mark Is Cranky)