Yet another name to add to the ever growing list of living guitar greats. Steve Knight has assimilated the past and merged it with the present which augurs well for the future.
Kicking off with his own composition Lure I knew at once that we were on the same side of his Chicago street. A catchy blues theme that, appropriately lured me in.
I've long considered Pure Imagination to be a class above its origins - Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory - in the right hands the Bricusse and Newley song is on a par with some of the works of their American counterparts.
Cracklin' pays tribute to Roy Haynes whose nickname it would seem was Snap Crackle. Here the sound of the exploding cereal was effectively provided by Stroud,
Knight sets a fast tempo on Pat Martino's Colossus. It's a finger-busting exercise for both guitar and bass. Stroud drops a few bombs as if to say"hang about guys we've got another six tracks to go!"
For Years Gone. Knight's late mother provided the inspiration for the title track. Slow and ponderous, the feeling of loss is conveyed but not in a maudlin way.
Kothbiro, composed by Kenyan singer and instrumentalist Ayub Ogada, the title translates to rain is coming. At times Knight's guitar sounds like a Kalimba, the African thumb piano. Peterson goes arco.
George Harrison's Something is taken in a wholly different direction to what I'm used to veering from 7/4 to 4/4 and back again. An unlikely number for a drum solo but at least it's not a 'cover'!
Joni Mitchell was responsible for Urge for Going, a song from a 1966 album that the trio reshape to suit.
Charlie Christian recorded Seven Come Eleven with the Goodman Sextet. Knight takes it down a different, funkier route. A route he and every other jazz guitarist couldn't have taken if Christian hadn't shown them the way.
Duke's In a Sentimental Mood played at speed may seem like sacrilege and, in a sense, it is. However, when a song has been performed as a ballad as many times as this one has an alternative approach is called for else why bother? So, Knight put his foot on the gas and I'm pleased to say it didn't end up as a 'car crash' - quite the opposite in fact.
Well worth checking out via BANDCAMP. Lance
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