Canada’s Best Kept Secret

By Richard S. Ginell, Daily News, Los Angeles, CA, Friday, June 1, 1990

THIS IS NEW/Ed Bickert/Lorne Lofsky
Our rating: three stars

The title notwithstanding (it is the name of the leadoff Kurt Weill-Ira Gershwin tune), there is nothing really new here in a progressive sense. Rather, this is an engaging opportunity to catch up with guitarist Ed Bickert, one of Canada’s better-kept secrets (Concord Jazz CCD-4414).

Bickert tends to stay at home in the Toronto area, out of the reach of the publicity mills, so Concord often goes to Canada to record him. Here, an all-Canadian team of bassist Neil Swainson, drummer Jerry Fuller and guitarist Lorne Lofsky, join Bickert in aswinging, smooth-as-glass, hourlong set of mostly out-of-the-way pop and jazz standards.

Far from being overmatched, the young Lofsky offers a sharply etched, equally inventive counterpoint to the subdued yet tasty imagination of Bickert. Along the way, both glide through some relaxing mainstream grooves.