Looking over Robben Fords vast credits list, his astonishing range becomes clear without hearing a note. Since the 1960s, hes played on hundreds of recordings by everyone from Charlie Musselwhite, Miles Davis, and Bob Dylan to the Yellowjackets, Jennifer Warnes, and Keiko Matsui. Fords remarkably consistent solo career began with 1976s Schizophonic, and includes important albums such as 1988s Talk to Your Daughter, 1992s Mystic Mile, 1997s Tiger Walk, 2002s Blue Moon, and 2018s Purple House. Night in the City was recorded at Nashvilles City Winery in 2021 and marked Fords return to live playing after the COVID-19 pandemic. Backed by his working quintet -- bassist Anton Nesbitt, drummer Nate Smith, saxophonist/bass clarinetist Jeff Coffin, and saxophonist Jovan Quallo -- Ford runs through (primarily instrumental) material from his catalog, focusing on 2021s Pure with a couple of vocal tunes and unreleased jams woven in. Three of the sets first four jams originally appeared on Pure. Opener "Go" offers this bands unique take on contemporary jazz-funk. With a punchy guitar vamp, a syncopated groove emerges atop Fords comping guitar. He dialogues with the sax players before undertaking a knotty solo. Its followed by the scorching "Blues for Lonnie Johnson." The horns follow the rhythm section in strolling the changes while Ford delivers a 21st century take on Chicago-style blues, alternating between blinding single-string runs and vast, poignant chord voicings that nearly sing. "Cotton Candy," a vocal track, originally appeared on Purple House. Framed by sparse, jazzy, backbeat funk, Ford rises above the saxes with the sultry lyric before digging in instrumentally with a tasty solo sans any extra notes. Instrumental "Balafon" (also from Pure) is a spacy, midtempo rocker with a funky backbeat undergirding slippery, accessible, bluesy post-bop. The interplay between saxophonists and guitarist is deeply conversational. Also included are a pair of unreleased tracks. "AntoNateNTate" commences as a jazz-blues before Fords winding, dialogic interlude with the saxophonists transforms itself into contemporary jazz fusion, even as the rhythm section maintains a circular, bluesy R&B. "Just Another Country Road" originally appeared on 2014s A Day in Nashville. Its a polished electric blues with a sweet vocal from Ford, who laments the state of modern life; it includes fine soloing from the saxists before Ford takes a deep dive into blues history with his solo. Closer "At the Apollo," a nearly nine-minute instrumental, deliberately evokes memories of the artists who performed there: One readily hears this bands evocation of James Brown & His Famous Flames with jagged, minimalist funk vamps, the Isaac Hayes Movements presentation of progressive jazzy soul, the honking sax blues of Gene Ammons, and 21st century jazz guitar improvisation. Night in the City is as tight as any of Fords studio efforts. The bands propulsive, swinging, incessant grooves are the result of familiarity as they play together often, and they sound as inspired as ever by one another, the audience, and the music itself. ~ Thom Jurek

Rovi