Julian Lage (guitar); Jorge Roeder (bass); Dave King (drums)
Despite
there being a page on his website about the Collings Julian Lage Signature Guitars
the stage at the Jazz Arena features only a beaten up Fender Telecaster leaning
against a small amp. Similarly, Dave King’s drum kit is the stripped down
back-to-basics model seen in many a jazz club. But it’s enough.
Half the eleven song set is drawn from last year’s Blue Note album View With a Room whilst this year’s ‘companion piece’ to Room… The Layers doesn’t get a look in.
Lage
impresses from the first note combining complex runs of notes with moments of
swing. He seems to tie himself up in notes, then, with one bound he is free.
The camaraderie in the band is clear to see with lots of smiles and nods
between them. It’s all good-natured, optimistic music but there’s nothing
smooth or easy listening about it. There are echoes of the jazz guitar
ancestors like Kenny Burrell, Grant Green, Montgomery and Metheny but it’s more
ravelled.
Castle Park features a drum solo from King who shows
how to do more with less, whilst Northern
Shuffle is an old fashioned train blues that breaks down into a
multi-rhythmic maelstrom which can’t be easy with only three players on stage.
It features frantic bass playing and cymbal work behind churning guitar. Word For Word opens with a thunder heavy
drum solo, the rapid fire drumming is matched by Lage spitting out sparks on
guitar.
At
times it sounds like Lage can insert a complete complex run of notes in between
each note of a melody and he can cut from a delicate filigree of notes to
occasional power chords and back again. He’s a very fine guitarist, but there is
the issue that insufficient variety in the programming slightly weakens the set
and reduces the entertainment. Having said that, I’d definitely go and see him
again.
Unfortunately parts of the second half of the set suffered from indistinct booms from the Big Top next door. This is something that the organisers really should have sorted out by now. Dave Sayer
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