Her Eyes At Sunset, released July 19, 2011 on Rhythm Universal Records, is the second CD by jazz artist, drummer and bandleader, Ernest "EC3" Coleman.
EC3 Coleman is a veteran in the jazz music industry, drumming behind such greats as Joe Williams, Al McKibbon, Kenny Burrell, George Cables, Laurindo Almeida, Vince Falcone (Frank Sinatra's conductor), Diahann Carroll, Vic Damone, Kevin Toney, and Billy Cosby, to name a few. Besides being the music director for songstress, Loretta Holloway, for the last 13+ years, Coleman has performed with the Las Vegas Symphony Orchestra, Caesars Palace Orchestra, Lake Tahoe Harrah's Orchestra, and the Reno Harrah's Orchestra.
REVIEW 
Her Eyes At Sunset takes a straight-ahead jazz album approach, nine standards and two original tunes, featuring Ernest EC3 Coleman on drums/percussion, with additional percussion by Jose (Bam Bam) Ramirez, Rafael Pereira, and Clynt Hyson who also handled some vocal duties as well as directing and arranging. Other personnel includes Jose Manuel Garcia on piano, Craig Shaw on bass, Sam Skelton on tenor sax and flute, Leonardo Oporto on acoustic guitar, with Chantae Cann and Alex Lattimore on vocals.
Jazz standards include: "The Night Has A Thousand Eyes" (Brainin/Bernier), "They Can't Take That Away From Me" (Gershwin), "Waters Of March" (Jobim), "It's About Time" (Carter), "Estrada Branca" (Jobim), "Pure Imagination" (Bricusse/Newley), "Quinta Anauco" (Romero), and "Blue in Green" (Davis); "Waters Of March" is performed with vocals and as an instrumental. The two originals, "Her Eyes At Sunset" and "Sharon's Song (Her Tears)" were both written and arranged by Ernest EC3 Coleman; title track co-written by Richard Owens.
Her Eyes At Sunset has a lot of tasty playing and nice arrangements throughout. EC3 demonstrates his prowess on the drums, making use of a variety of striking apparatus (sticks/brushes/mallets) over a variety of tempos and styles; uptempo and medium swing, ballads and latin-jazz.
Sonically, the studio performances were recorded okay, although I didn't care for the extraneous background sounds (eg. sqeaking drum throne, drum hardware rattles).
Recommended for music listeners who prefer jazz that doesn't get too 'outside' — or pushing the boundaries harmonically or rhythmically.
