Born and raised in the Carnarsie section of Brooklyn, jazz
guitarist and composer/songwriter Joel Fass has been playing for nearly fifty
years. The range of his experience coupled with his love for American Song is
demonstrated fluently throughout these "exemplary" recordings. Fass
has played with the likes of Eddie Diehl, Bob Dorough, Bill Takas, Chris Anderson
and Hadda Brooks, to name a few.
Melody
Messenger is a solo
guitar outing featuring a wondrous variety of popular songs from the 1930s to
the present. Willie Dixon's My Babe, Harold Arlen's Last
Night When We Were Young and Gershwin's Lady Be Good comfortably
rub shoulders with Stevie Wonder's Lookin’ for Another Pure Love and
Lennon/McCartney's Because. Who'd a thunk it but it works.
For
good measure, Fass has also resurrected a few lesser known Broadway gems like
Sondheim's Anyone Can Whistle, Charles Strouse's Once Upon
a Time and Cy Coleman's When in Rome. All excellent
jazz vehicles for improvisation with distinctive melodic character. Fass has
also added a compostion of his own entitled Shelter - welcome
indeed. The lyrics of which are published in the liner notes (just in case any
aspiring vocalist would like to give it a whirl, Joel adds...) All of which are
given unique and distinctive treatments in the guitarist’s creative hands
with original and effective chordal reharmonisations.
Jam For Eddie Diehl welcomes the
talents of two guitarists duo-ing with Fass - Sheryl Bailey and Ray
Macchiarolla. Both of whom rise to the occasion with aplomb with their
perceptive and supportive accompanying. Their sterling solo turns also sparkle.
Another pleasantly variegated batch of American tunedom prevails
including Ellington's Reflections in D,
Dizzy's Tin
Tin Deo, Bird's, Buzzy all
easily hobnob with Izzy Baline's (Irving Berlin) What'll I Do?,
Stevie's Blame
it On the
Sun and Johnny Cash's Folsom Prison Blues, for
cryin out loud! A most welcome inclusion are three Fass originals, two of which
were "on the spot" inventions between him and Macchiarolla. Clothed
with catchy, droll titles like E's Minor, Ah's
Grow'd Up and Your Call Is Very Important To
Me lend this disc some humour and light heartedness that is also such a winning
feature of Fass' character and persona.
The liner notes on Melody Messenger include
some very complimentary quotes and testimonials from leading NYC jazz
guitarists on Fass's efforts. These include Gene Bertoncini, James Chirillo and
Peter Bernstein.
All of which are more than backed up by "what it says on the
tin" as they say. A very impressive recording debut from a talented and
experienced guitarist and bodes extremely well for future releases. We look
forward to the next one - sooner than later, please.
Frank Griffith
Exemplar Records - No recording dates listed
3 comments :
Thank you, sir.
I did want to mention a few things:
1. Old pal Bobby Lenti did a first-rate job recording and editing us at his Lansdale, PA home studio.
2. Guitarists Freddie Bryant and Kevin McNeal provided fine notes for the Diehl Cd.
3. Jams for Eddie Diehl has as last track the man himself, live in trio with Bill Takas, bass, and Bob Dorough sitting in on piano---Zinno, NYC, 1983. It was fitting he have the last word, so here he is stretching out lovingly and swingingly on Charlie Parker's Buzzy.
4. Melody Messenger was recorded over 11 years, mostly at Bobby's studio, from 2008-2019 (Last Night When We Were Young was done on a student's no-name acoustic which sound I liked in 2008, BOYA Studios, NJ...
Jams for Eddie Diehl was recorded in 2017, except for Reflections in D, 2019...
I agree 100% with this review! Joel undoubtedly knows the sources in and out, and it really shows in his consistency of melodic lyricism and compositional harmonic language.
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