While building one of
jazz's most impressive all-star resumes as a session cat supreme, electric guitar master
Joe Beck -- who has kept company with
Miles Davis,
Gil Evans,
Duke Ellington,
Buddy Rich,
Paul Desmond,
Maynard Ferguson and
David Sanborn, among others -- has also amassed a solid discography of solo discs including notable efforts in the '80s and '90s on
DMP. His third disc on
Whaling City Sound features mostly covers (all but two are recognizable
jazz and Great American Songbook)
standards, but his sense of invention on these all but makes him a co-composer. The creative centerpiece is the colorful, multi-movement ten-minute opus of
"Alone Together," which features his daring, often bristling
improvisation over a hypnotic bass/drum groove that changes tempo every so often. While the piece will mostly appeal to hardcore fusionheads or guitar lovers, there are many other cuts here that seem designed for the more casual, melody oriented
jazz fan.
"Impressions" is seductive and melodic, about as coolly funky as organic
jazz can be.
"Laura" is given a lighthearted, almost breezy treatment, while
"My Romance" swings elegantly.
Beck's own
"A Little Blue" is gritty yet accessible, a lot like some of
Larry Carlton's early-2000s
pop-blues work, while his other original,
"Dancing to San Xavier," proves that he's also a romantic songwriter. This is inventive post-millennial
fusion at its best. ~ Jonathan Widran
