Three Faces Records © 2015
The interplay between the guitars and strings is deft and inspiring, able to take you to sounds of East Africa with chiming strings as on “IN-1881/The Search” with Patitucci’s bass and Blade’s drums creating a celebratory mix of continental sounds reaching from Africa to Asia on “Dugu Kmalemba.” Bluesy and rockish funk beats take you to the rural south on “Band of Brothers” whereas you might think Jeff Beck jumped on stage with some rock steady blues as Patitucci leads the team on a heavy hitting “JLR.” Other times the strings intertwinging sound like gentle drops of rain as the dance on the spacious read of “Ugly Beauty” and allow the strings on the B part of “Trinkle Tinkle” to deftly bop and twirl in a way unmatched by previous attempts by pianists and horn players. Patitucci’s bass dances with Blades’ deft brushes and sticks with swinging guitars on “Do You?” and is as suave as Fred with Ginger on the lyrical “The Thumb.” His church roots pop up on an earthy read of “Go Down Moses” that will let your people go, and shows his wares on the closing “Tesori.” This is a team that shows an inspiring mix of lyricism, swing and interplay. They’ve got to be caught on tour!
— George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly
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Featuring: John Patitucci, bass; Adam Rogers, guitar; Steve Cardenas, guitar; Brian Blade, drums
Here’s a disc that should be on a “Best Of” list for fans of bass, guitar and jazz. Six string electric bass icon John Patitucci takes time off from his stint with Wayne Shorter to put together his first disc as a leader in six years, and it’s a beaut. Instead of putting his acoustic and bass guitars in various settings as in his last album, Patitucci gets together a string-laden team of Adam Rogers/g, Steve Cardenas/g and fellow Shorter teammate Brian Blade/dr for a mix of originals and Monk.The interplay between the guitars and strings is deft and inspiring, able to take you to sounds of East Africa with chiming strings as on “IN-1881/The Search” with Patitucci’s bass and Blade’s drums creating a celebratory mix of continental sounds reaching from Africa to Asia on “Dugu Kmalemba.” Bluesy and rockish funk beats take you to the rural south on “Band of Brothers” whereas you might think Jeff Beck jumped on stage with some rock steady blues as Patitucci leads the team on a heavy hitting “JLR.” Other times the strings intertwinging sound like gentle drops of rain as the dance on the spacious read of “Ugly Beauty” and allow the strings on the B part of “Trinkle Tinkle” to deftly bop and twirl in a way unmatched by previous attempts by pianists and horn players. Patitucci’s bass dances with Blades’ deft brushes and sticks with swinging guitars on “Do You?” and is as suave as Fred with Ginger on the lyrical “The Thumb.” His church roots pop up on an earthy read of “Go Down Moses” that will let your people go, and shows his wares on the closing “Tesori.” This is a team that shows an inspiring mix of lyricism, swing and interplay. They’ve got to be caught on tour!
— George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly
Back to Discography