Review from Musicwatch section of The Borderland
The Borderland published a review of No Worries in its Musicwatch section.
Jazz flourished and expanded out of many cities in America during its ‘birth’, Houston, Texas, being one of them. The tradition continues today and Larry Slezak is one of Houston’s premier saxophonists. After working in many bands he has finally made the jump to being bandleader himself and recorded his debut album, No Worries. Working essentially as a five piece band, but with extra musicians and a string section added on certain tracks, No Worries is a muscular type of album, honking sax to the fore - you can almost smell the club ambience and cigarette smoke oozing from each track. The main musicians are Clayton Dyess on guitar, Thomas Helton on bass, Jose-Miguel Yamal on piano and a very funky Hammond B3, Joe Slezak on drums, with Larry Slezak playing tenor and soprano sax. The twelve tracks are a mixture of classics like How About You, Girl Talk, Wee Small Hours, Cry Me A River [both with engaging vocals by Sheri Lavo], Secret Love and the self-composed No Worries, which bounces along like a sleek panther. There’s something very ‘old school’ about this album, and that is both its vibe and the sense of musical fun being had by the musicians and the listeners of the CD. No Worries is an album that follows its own advice and just offers some good old fashioned jazz virtues of melody and virtuosity and a good time. I half expect Sinatra to pop in on some of the ballads to sing a verse or two. Definitely one of the best jazz albums I’ve heard this year.

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