The Zookeeper's House

The Zookeeper's House
Studio album by Jemeel Moondoc
Released	2014
Recorded	October 26, 2013 Park West Studios, Brooklyn
Genre	Jazz
Length	50:42
Label	Relative Pitch
Producer	Jemeel Moondoc, Kevin Reilly, Mike Panico
Jemeel Moondoc chronology
Two (2012) The Zookeeper's House (2014)

The Zookeeper's House is an album by American jazz saxophonist Jemeel Moondoc, which was recorded in 2013 and released on Relative Pitch. It was his first album leading a full band in over a decade.

Music

Moondoc plays the ballad "For the Love of Cindy" with only the rhythm section composed of bassist Hilliard Greene and drummer Newman Taylor Baker. On the title track and "One for Monk and Coltrane" they are joined by pianist Matthew Shipp. On "Little Blue Elvira" and Alice Coltrane's classic "Ptah, the El Daoud" the band is a quintet with a three-horn front line featuring trumpeter Roy Campbell, in his final recorded appearance and to whom the album is dedicated, and trombonist Steve Swell, who played before with Moondoc on the record Swimming in a Galaxy of Goodwill and Sorrow, by Swell's band Fire Into Music.^[1]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Down Beat	[2]

The Down Beat review by Josef Woodard states "The new five-track set, with different groupings and musical angles, captures a distinctly live vibrancy and in-the-moment vulnerability in the studio."^[2]

Burning Ambulance placed the album at #1 on their Best Jazz of 2014 list.^[3]

Track listing

All compositions by Jemeel Moondoc except as indicated

1. "The Zookeeper's House" - 9:11
2. "Little Blue Elvira" - 9:43
3. "Ptah, the El Daoud" (Alice Coltrane) - 10:48
4. "One for Monk and Trane" - 12:42
5. "For the Love of Cindy" - 8:18

Personnel

• Jemeel Moondoc - alto sax
• Matthew Shipp - piano on 1 & 4
• Roy Campbell - trumpet on 2 & 3
• Steve Swell - trombone on 2 & 3
• Hilliard Greene - bass
• Newman Taylor Baker - drums

References