Lee Ritenour – Wes Bound (GRP)

I was influenced by Smoke and Mirrors, which is a great album and, after listening some samples, I ordered one copy of Lee Ritenour’s Wes Bound.
I always listen to all the internet samples before deciding to order a CD. The samples of Wes Bound promised that it would be a very good item for my collection.
It is dedicated to jazz-guitar legend Wes Montgomery, one of the Lee Ritenour’s influences. He plays some Wes tracks and also own music, including “New Day” which is, for me, the best song in this work.
In my opinion, one of the best Lee Ritenour’s albums. Great music in a very good GRP recording quality.

The Anthony Wilson Trio – Jack of Hearts (Groove Note)

This is my second Anthony’s album. The other is Our Gang, which was already commented here and which I like a lot. They are both extremes of Anthony Wilson presence at Groove Note.
When I listened a sample of this work in CD Universe, I listened only the first track Mezcal. This track has an interesting joy rithm and made me order one copy of Jack Of Hearts CD.
I was expecting something similar do Our Gang and, it is oddly very similar and quite different, at the same time.
One similarity is that we have a guitar-drum-organ trio. Guitar (Anthony Wilson), Drums (Jeff Hamilton and Jim Keltner) and Organ (Larry Goldings). This organist adds a very intense and seasoned timbre to the album. I enjoyed a lot his work here.

The main difference between Jack of Hearts and Our Gang is the music style. Our Gang is more bebop oriented, which is absolutely not the case in this new record. Jack of Hearts has a post-bop atmosphere. More ongoing rhythms, sometimes bluesy sometimes psychedelic. There was a real change in the 8 years between the two records.
Another similarity is the recording quality. Groove Note is already a safe hifi quality label for me. Very nice drum pickup and extremely well tonal balance.
There are other 2 Groove Notes releases: Savivity and Power of Nine, already in my wish-list and hope to get them soon.

thank you
Leonardo

Geral Veasley – Velvet (Heads Up)

Geral Veasley is an excellent American bassist influenced by Jaco Pastorius and Stanley Clarke.
In the early 90’s he signed with Heads Up International and released good records so far. Velvet is one of them.
As the name itself suggests, Velvet is a work with smooth and soft musics. With a funky-jazz-soul style he shows a very solid creativity. He is able to create original forms, always with the bass in evidence.
My favorite tracks are Put your Sunday clothes, Bread Puddin’ and Home.
The recording quality of the Heads Up releases are always very good. Velvet is not different. A very safe HiFi album.

I have already written in other posts that bass players, when decides for a solo career, usually do the right thing. The bass, which is a rhythmic instrument (since it depends closely on the drums), when is the main spot of an album, shall reveal exactly that: rhythm. Probably that’s the reason why it is important that the bassist show up more. Have you ever wondered how the modern jazz would be without guys like Jaco, Stanley Clarke and others?

Best wishes
Leonardo