My review of Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band's Landmarks, today at All About Jazz.

Four records in 16 years may not be prolific, but clearly Brian Blade and his longstanding Fellowship Band aren't about quantity. While a seemingly scant two years separated the drummer's leader debut (and inspiration for the group name), Fellowship (Blue Note, 1998) from its even more impressive follow-up, Perceptual (Blue Note, 2002), the group's next record, Season of Changes (Verve) came a full eight years later in 2008, and beyond a label change also reflected the trimming down of the Fellowship Band from its original septet to a sextet with the departure of pedal steel virtuoso Dave Easley.

Another six years have passed, but Landmarks represents not only another label change as it returns to Blue Note, but some additional shifting on the personnel front, with the departure of Kurt Rosenwinkel, a key member since Perceptual. These days, more often than not, the Fellowship Band is, in performance, a lean but very potent quintet with five of its seven original members intact; for Landmarks, however, the group enlists guitarist Jeff Parker (making a return after being part of the group that recorded Fellowship) and Marvin Sewell to flesh out seven of the album's ten tracks.


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