Highly recommmended!!! It slams!!! If you are a jazz head don't ask questions buy it!!! Not a bad song on this cd!! I have not heard this cd until I peeped some cuts on cd baby. I bought it and I am well pleased!! Shout out when you come to the ATL!!!

This CD is laid back and straight to the point. The Awakening is incredible and all of the songs are HOT!!! It has old skool jazz flavor from jazz musicians that play from the depths of their souls. If you love jazz and are looking for something to kick back and relax to or throw in the car before you hit the road....this is the CD to buy!!

Michael Thomas, a pillar of the Washington, D.C. jazz scene, leads a fierce quintet on The Awakening (JazHead). Offering five originals, three jazz covers and an alternate take. Joined by Zach Graddy on tenor, Darius Scott on piano, Kent Miller on bass and Frank Williams IV on drums (with baritonist Whit Williams on two tracks), Thomas leads off with a stunningly, accurate reading of Wayne Shorter’s “Hammer Head” – a gem from the Jazz Messengers’ Free For All album. One also hears Thomas’s historically impeccable approach to hard bop on Hank Crawford’s soul-jazzy “Sherri” and Lee Morgan’s prescient “Search for a New Land” (although Thomas interprets the latter in a much faster ¾). Of the originals, the ballad “Tender-Lee” and the midtempo “Stanley & Freddie” again make the early Blue Note influences explicit, while the title track, heard in two takes, posits a more modern, off-kilter funk feel before breaking into flat-out, minor –key swing. “No Time To Wait” and “Blues #9” stir the pot with uptempo drama and greasy shuffle, respectively. Every band member is strong , but Thomas leads the pack with a piping-hot, Hubbard-esque horn. The recording is bone-dry and immediate, without a hint of studio atmospherics.

"This is the kind of bliss you hear in the middle of the 'second set' in an evening," writes Andrew White in his liner notes to "The Awakening." The renowned saxophonist and educator is referring to the hushed silence conjured by trumpeter Michael Thomas's quintet on "Tender-Lee," a performance that quietly evokes the late trumpeter Lee Morgan's expressive way with a ballad. White thinks the music created by Thomas's band should delight any fan of '50s and pre-fusion '60s jazz, a view easily shared. After all, the group spends a lot of time here celebrating its influences, directly or indirectly, with verve and soul. Three crisply executed interpretations rank among highlights: Wayne Shorter's "Hammer Head," which vibrantly recalls the reedman's tenure with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers; Hank Crawford's "Sherri," the kind of brassy jazz strut that always sounds timeless; and Morgan's "Search for a New Land," a spiritual and fitfully spirited ode that capitalizes on the dramatic tension created by Thomas and his band mates: tenor saxophonist Zach Graddy, pianist Darius Scott, bassist Kent Miller and drummer Frank Williams IV. Among the remaining pieces, all composed by Thomas, are "Stanley & Freddie," a now leisurely, now lively homage to Messrs. Turrentine and Hubbard that radiates the intimacy and spontaneity of a live performance; "Blues #9, a chugging, late-night excursion featuring guest baritone saxophonist Whit Williams; and the album's harmonically angular and rhythmically churning title track. New ground isn't broken here, but several small gems are uncovered just the same. -- Mike Joyce