After a second listen I still think the band is pretty hot. That's something.
Besides playing the right notes, in time, in tune, and musically, a top notch horn section is making as much rhythmic drive, timing accuracy and articulation, dynamic, and phrasing nuances with the ends of the notes, as they are with the beginnings of the notes. Even in the simple, whole note background phrases something is happening at the end. Punchy, fat quarter notes, hit you on the attack and the release. The release is rarely on the beat. A strong, clean release on the right subdivision of the beat, on the end of a long note, can really set up a following rhythmic figure. The simpler the arrangement, the more important it is. There are no "throw-away" note endings. Even fade-outs come to an end.
Some of the best, most creative and exciting section playing I have heard anywhere, and largely because of the way they played the ends of the notes, was done by Ed Calle (tenor), Jason Carter (trumpet), and Dana Teboe (trombone), on a Haitian recording, done at some little studio in Miami.
