Trumpeter Dave Guy releases his debut album, Ruby. Guy’s work as a supporting musician is usually with The Roots on tour and The Tonight Show. He also counts Lizzo, Amy Winehouse, Sharon Jones, and Pharrell as past employers. On his first solo album, he blows lines of fluffy, weightless notes on a purely instrumental jaunt. He has some of the sass and soul of Freddie Hubbard, who also played his horn with a purposeful delicateness rooted in the blues. “Drony Boy” belongs in a drama or mystery film for its sly rhythm movements and pensive lingering notes. Guy knows how to create moods with his instrument and that includes the celebratory nature of “Footwork,” which infuses the air with playful phrases to incite dancing and partying. The palette of his emotions is not always so clear-cut, as “Pinky Ring” sounds like cool driving music or the backdrop to anything happening in everyday life, a musical morning stretch. Dave Guy’s Ruby is his first major recorded step from band member to leader and it is a contemporary triumph of post-bop jazz traditions, including the West Coast school of chill.
