ProStudioMasters.com

Ubuntu Music is delighted to release Pluto, from the exceptionally talented pairing of O’Higgins & Luft. This is the second co-led recording from Saxophonist Dave O’Higgins and guitarist Rob Luft, three years after O’Higgins & Luft Play Monk & Trane. Where the first album clearly did what it says on the tin, Pluto, as the title suggests, comes from another place. Seven of the nine songs are original compositions by each band leader, and the remaining two pieces are Monk and Coltrane hits that evolved naturally on the road during a 50 date European tour in 2019. The sonority has changed a little, too, as the Hammond organ of the first album is replaced with acoustic piano and double bass. This is straight-ahead modern jazz in the African-American tradition, clearly coming from the Monk and Trane lineage, but not bound to emulating it. You will hear Luft easily morphing Wes Montgomery with Bill Frisell, his own trademark soundscapes and worldly influences, while O’Higgins’ emotive melodies evoke Dexter, Trane, Joe Henderson and Brecker, with a melodic logic of his own. "I'm so happy to be working with the great Dave O'Higgins on this second collaborative effort. Whilst the banner of O'Higgins & Luft might somewhat resemble the name of a lawyer's firm, it actually represents an incredibly fruitful artistic collaboration over the past five years! Working with Dave has helped me remain firmly grounded to the swinging roots of jazz, with our frontline blend of tenor sax and guitar clearly coming out of the hard-bop tradition, echoing the sound-world of Kenny Burrell & John Coltrane, Grant Green & Joe Henderson, or George Benson & Stanley Turrentine." - Rob Luft