Frank Kohl (gtr); Tom Kohl (pno); Steve LaSpina (bs); Jon Doty (dms).
(Review by Lance).
After wading through the albums that land on the doormat and wondering if jazz is still jazz, along comes an album like this.
A sheer delight! Not a pedal board in sight! Barney Kessel; Herb Ellis; Joe Pass; Jim Hall and now Frank Kohl. Music to delight these jaded and increasingly confused ears! I shouldn't be reviewing this - it should be Roly, Jim Birkett, Steve Glendinning, Bradley or Giles Strong, guys who are guitarists and aficionados of this oft abused instrument. No abuse on this album! A mix of originals and gassers featuring Kohl on his third CD.
Brother Tom on piano is the perfect foil - what music must have been made in that household! Frank encountered LaSpina at a Jim Hall gig and immediately earmarked him for this recording - wise move! His solos are just perfect and Doty's drums are ideal for this line-up. Sympathetic, driving, but never overpowering.
The instrumental version of Funny Valentine gives that overworked song a reprieve. Round About has nothing to do with midnight but swings along like a mid-afternoon stroll in Central Park.
My One and Only Love is given the treatment this beautiful tune deserves. I never knew, until now, that the composer, Guy Wood, was born in Manchester! Alone Together rounds off a superb CD.
Check him out. The album may be entitled The Invisible Man but, with this release, it could be the most inappropriate title ever - in a perfect world...
Available now on Pony Boy Records - want to buy a guitarist a Xmas present? Look no further.
Lance.
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