CD

Really, it could only be Steve Gadd’s ghost-stroke-laden, slightly behind the beat, super funky pattern that’s heard on “Conflicting Advice,” the opening track on Catch a Corner, a hip jazz-funk disc featuring B3 great Joey DeFrancesco. Halfway through the tune, Gadd starts flipping the beat around and throwing in his trademark kick syncopations, never relinquishing the feel or pulse. There are swingers (“Geppetto’s Blues”) and Latin-esque brush groovers (“Bolivia”), but it’s the old-school, wide open snare and well-timed ride pattern of the title track that reminds us why forty years on, Gadd is still the first-call guy for countless artists. (www.almarecords.com) Ilya Stemkovsky