Arclight (Mack Avenue)
Julian Lage
Released March 11, 2016
JazzTimes Top 10 Albums of 2016
YouTube:
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=yWAT8CDm3lo&list=OLAK5uy_m1BJYVBahmXW-KaJcmISwzJO0IrdGFKiA
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/album/6sKJEBTRRuQhI696nyr1mD?si=TT_GPYNTQyuUMC4BU0YyHg
About:
Arclight was recorded on a Telecaster, which is not generally considered to be a jazz guitar. Lage stated in an interview that “the electric guitar was always so fascinating to me, and my guitar heroes played it… Stevie Ray Vaughan… Clapton or whatnot—Muddy Waters.
“While most of the tunes on the album are originals, there are several “pre-bebop” compositions, from “before things got kind of codified and slick and refined”, in Lage’s words. Lage said he enjoyed such tunes mostly because of the chord changes, what he described as a “slippery approach to basically fundamental harmony”.
“Nocturne”, one of the pre-release singles, was an old Spike Hughes composition. Lage said he liked this tune because “it starts on this minor chord, and…it’s very hard to find…songs that weren’t major, that weren’t happy, that weren’t just total dance music”. According to Lage, the chord progression played on “Harlem Blues” (a W. C. Handy composition) was inspired by Willard Robison’s chord changes for the song, slightly different from Handy’s simpler progression.
Track Listing:
1. Fortune Teller (Julian Lage) 3:03
2. Persian Rug (Charlie Daniels / Gus Kahn) 2:23
3. Nocturne (Spike Hughes) 3:19
4. Supera (Julian Lage) 4:01
5. Stop Go Start (Julian Lage) 3:31
6. Activate (Julian Lage) 2:08
7. Presley (Julian Lage) 4:12
8. Prospero (Julian Lage) 3:08
9. I’ll Be Seeing You (Sammy Fain / Irving Kahal) 3:31
10. Harlem Blues (W.C. Handy) 3:27
11. Ryland (Julian Lage) 4:02
Personnel:
Julian Lage: guitar
Scott Colley: bass
Kenny Wollesen: drums, percussion
Recorded at Brooklyn Recording, Brooklyn, NY, by Ed McEntee, Ted Tuthill
Produced by Jesse Harris
Mixed by Cian Riordan
Mastered by Dan Millice
Photography: Justin Camerer
Art Direction: Charlie Wagers
Executive Producer: Gretchen Valade
Review:
A departure in two major ways, Arclight is
Julian Lage’s recorded debut on electric guitar and his first album to delve
deeply into non-original material. The format is a simple trio: Scott Colley on
double bass, Kenny Wollesen on drums, plus occasional percussion overdubs. The
song structures are tight; only three of the 11 tracks stretch past four
minutes, and those just barely. Colley gets a chance to state the tune of the
wistful original “Presley,” but otherwise Lage is the principal melodic voice
here, and to say he holds the listener’s attention is an understatement. This
is one of those rare albums that leaves you wishing it were much longer.
Both Lage’s choice of instrument, a
Telecaster-style guitar, and the general mood of the music-call it eclectic
Americana with a double shot of whimsy-bring Bill Frisell strongly to mind. So
do some of Lage’s stylistic moves: frequent use of open strings and Monkian
dissonances, deep R&B-style bent notes, country-fried double stops. But
there’s a consistent take-no-prisoners quality to his playing that sets him
apart from his obvious forerunner. The Tele’s piercing tone suits him to a tee,
especially when he turns up the grit, as on the outstanding, vaguely
Arabic-sounding “Prospero” and the opening “Fortune Teller,” which starts out
fairly mellow, then busts into a unison riff midway through that’s shocking in
its sudden aggression.
Other highlights include quick but memorable
runs through Gus Kahn and Neil Moret’s ragtimey “Persian Rug,” W.C. Handy’s
“Harlem Blues” and a winningly angular “I’ll Be Seeing You.” At certain
moments-a staggered phrase here, a surprising interval leap there-you can
almost hear the guitar grin. No longer a prodigy, Julian Lage now qualifies as
a modern master.
Mac Randall (JazzTimes)
