I guess when I was around 8 years-old I was allowed to join my elementary school’s music program and learn how to play a musical instrument. My instrument of choice would’ve been the trumpet, but since too many other kids had signed up for that instrument before me, I was forced to choose another. So, I chose the saxophone. Actually, it was an alto E flat sax to be exact.
Except for having to lug that heavy sax back and forth to school I loved my conical-bore woodwind like a puppy. I’d polish its brass finish to a shine, wet my wooden reed with due diligence before playing, and I was never punished for not practicing on a daily basis. In fact, a few of my other family members suggested, on numerous occasions, that maybe my practice sessions should be shorter, or at least, practice outside in the yard further away from their hearing range.
You name it, “Three Blind Mice”, “London Bridges”, “Pop Goes The Weasel”, it was clear that I was mastering the classics. Had it not been for my asthma attacks, and the questionable advice my parents received from a puzzling pediatrician that I give up my cherished axe, least I do my lungs harm, I’d still be wailing away today. I may even have grown up to be a great saxophonist. So, the first time I heard Don Diego blowing like nobody’s business on his CD, Fun, my first thought was that he was everything I wanted to be as a musician.
Here was a guy from Dallas, TX that made his sax, talk, sing and squeal. He not only paints in sonic shades of succulent sound on the 16 tracks of his CD, but also uses his soprano sax to duet with some of today’s jazz greats like Kirk Whalum (tenor sax) and Gerald Albright (alto sax). In addition Diego offers some keyboards and vocals on several of the songs as well as contributed to composing 11 of the tunes that make up Fun.
The album opens with the Latin flavored Tenor Fiesta that swings like a pretty señorita’s hips on the dance floor during a Cinco de Mayo celebration. What follows is a selection of funky, fast, furious, and of course, fun songs. The title track swaggers with an old school soulfulness that defines the meaning of “getting’ down’. Don and his band pick up the tempo on DaDa then bring it back down, but just a bit, on Round 12 AM.
Chantel, track #5, is a sweet serenade that allows Diego to strum the heartstrings with his wistful sax riffs before leading the listener into the wishful Let’s Fly Away This Weekend. Tuff is a saxy strut that carries over onto the following groove-laced Unnatural Change. Speaking of groove, Ago’s Groove finds the sweet spot of a strong melody then bats it right out of the ballpark.
Track #10, Have A Funky Day, has now become my official morning wake-up song. It’s a wake, bake and shake soundtrack if I ever heard one. Bad-ass bass lines provided by Lebron Scott lay the foundation for an aerial dogfight of the aforementioned Mr. Whalum and Mr. Diego’s sax solos. It’s a battle between tenor and soprano that ends in victory for both of these woodwind warriors.
The dreamy Thinking lilts and lingers like lovers in the afterglow. That lovely revelry gets notched up by a few degrees in Diego’s Way and Happy Lonely then explodes into excited ecstasy in the aptly titled Shake It (featuring rapper B Easy). Laid Back is a lullaby like tune that leads into the show stopping closing number which is a sizzling remix of the album’s title track.
While I will never be able play the sax like Don Diego I now have the opportunity to play his stunningly fine CD over and over again whenever I please. Thank you Mr. Diego for taking me back in time, lifting my spirits high, and funking up my waking hours. Last, but not least, Don, thank you for all the great Fun you managed to fit all onto one CD. You’re amazing!
