Halfway There

You might be disinclined to listen to a recording of solo French horn, but though that’s all you’ll hear in our sample, the disc features quite a lot more. Most of the tracks on Unsworth’s CD feature a wonderfully tight and instrumentally-unusual sextet combining his horn with vibes, bass, drums, the fantastic Philadelphia-based violinist Diane Monroe, formerly of the String Trio of New York, and always intriguing multi-wind player Les Thimmig, who has been in David Borden’s Mother Mallard Band. But the thing that really took my breath away (pun intended) is what Unsworth can do on the horn all by himself. With a single melodic line, he bends, he grooves, he twists, he turns, and you never miss the rhythm section.

–FJO