Friday, August 05, 2005

More than blue

OK, Doug Wamble's singing on "Bluestate" is bluesy, gospely and makes me think of a weird combination of Bruce Hornsby and Nina Simone. His guitar playing is somewhere on the road between Django Reinhardt and Wes Montgomery and not that far from Bill Frisell's neighborhood in spots. And the music he makes with pianist Roy Dunlap, bassist Jeff Hanley and drummer Peter Miles, all of whom are really good, is adventurous jazz tending toward the avant-garde with Latin, Middle Eastern and other tinges tossed in for good measure.

All this on diverse, consistently interesting material that comes by way of Wamble, Dunlap, Peter Gabriel, Stevie Wonder and the church via Mahalia Jackson and unfolds with lots of nifty surprises along the way. Another gem from Marsalis Music. Big boss Branford Marsalis contributes a gnarly guest tenor solo on "Rockin' Jerusalem."

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