Rhythm & Blues
WhenHamiett Bluiett's baritone sax honks out the riff from theO'Jays' "For the Love of Money," it's clear that not only are several genre fences being run down, the World Saxophone Quartet is having the time of its life driving the bulldozer. Not thatRhythm and Blues, a set of six soul and blues classics matched with three originals, lacks subtlety. A ruminative, slowed-down "Let's Get It On," the natural encore hand- clapper "I Heard That" (one of Bluiett's two compositions here), and "Night Train," theJames Brown-by-way-of-big-band mover--just three sublime highlights--help make this a gleeful, deeply felt work of very, very human art.--Rickey Wright