Alexander Varty, Georgia Straight, June 24-July 1, 1999

    Ken Aldcroft, Brian Harding and Nick Gaffaney have bravely decided that it's possible to make satisfying jazz without the assistance of a bass player-and they're right, at least some of the time. On the slower, more ballad-oriented material here Aldcroft does an entirely satisfactory job of supplying the bottom end with the bass strings of his guitar, while Harding waxes lyrical on his trombone and Gaffaney provides crisp, supportive percussion. But when the music switches to a more up-tempo, riff-driven sound-as it is on "Spiritual" and the "Doogie" portion of "Doogie/Like Father"-it would be nice to have a bassist in tow, if only so that Aldcroft could have a chance to solo over a more assertive pulse. Playing with a bassist might also help brighten the somewhat monochromatic tonal landscape these three musicians inhabit; to help compensate for the trio's lack of bottom, Aldcroft rolls the treble right off his guitar, but this puts him in conflict with Harding's cotton-soft sound.
    There are occasional musical miscues, too; to my mind, Harding should have laid out during Aldcroft's solo on "Another Night", as his playing distracts from some tasteful interplay between the guitarist and drummer. But on the whole, this is an enjoyable, live-in-the-studio portrait of a sensitive, intelligent ensemble.