Downbeat Magazine Review of Red Beats!
Drummer STEVE FIDYK leads the Live Wire Broad Band on his fourth album as a leader. Red Beats (Blue Canteen Music®; 55:32; 3 ½ Stars) is a surprisingly strong big band album. It has some swing and bounce to it that gives it a bit of that cut above the rest. It bends the boundaries of the genre, though it doesn’t necessarily break them. Moments like the pointedly meandering guitar near the end of “Churn” or Brian Charette’s organ solo on “Loopholes” in time with guitarist Michael Kramer’s arrangements give the idea that maybe there’s a little more to this group and their arrangements than meets the eye.
Fidyk’s pulling ideas from everywhere to craft a big band album with a forward-thinking sound, and it shows. The new-age synths melding with his drum solo at the end of “Food Court Drifter” aren’t the kind of sounds you hear every day. Ordering Info: https://www.bluecanteenmusic.com/
- Anthony Dean-Harris, Downbeat Magazine