Reviewed by Miriam Allenson

Oh, to be able to play an instrument, a piano, a set of drums, a violin, a saxophone, or a flute, to make music that takes the listener on a magic carpet ride of sound. Some musicians can do it. Some musicians just play the notes. Ted Nash and Odeon fall into the former category. In a recently released disc, La Espada de la Noche, Nash and ensemble hit all the usual pleasure spots, plus some long dormant.

From first to last, Nash’s music on this release is defined not by style or period, but by his particular interpretation, one that is far from derivative. The first track, Dizzy Gillespie's "A Night in Tunisia'' sounds like a South American tango cum klezmer continuo. The third track, “Tico, Tico,” that old saw from weddings of bygone years, begins in a plaintive discussion between Natalie Bonin's violin and Bill Schimmel’s accordion, before sliding into a sprightly, bubbly samba, with each instrumentalist -- Nash plays many of them, including clarinet, alto sax and tenor sax, and flute -- strutting his or her stuff. Most charming on this track is a delightfully show-offy solo by Clark Gayton on tuba.

This is an amazingly accessible and dare it be said, fun recording. There's not one bad track on the whole CD, a miraculous occurrence these days. Plus it dips into so many different music- genres, including classical. Although it has to be said Rodrigo's “Concierto de Aranjuez” -- which Nash does here in spectacular form - has been recorded by jazz artists so many times, it's a wonder it's considered classical at all anymore. Nash does the first two movements of the three-part Concierto, substituting Schimmel's accordion, Bonin's violin, Gayton's trombone, and his own clarinet, for the solo instrument Rodrigo wrote it for, the guitar. Here's the best part; it works.

La Espada de la Noche, with Ted Nash and Odeon will get into
your blood.....and onto your keeper shelf.