Artists
Album Info
Release Date: 2009Label: Tippin' Records
Chicago jazz guitarist Kyle Asche is in very good company while playing his soulfully shaded mainstream jazz music. As a clear Wes Montgomery disciple, Asche seems to prefer single notes to chords or a combination of the two. A linear, melodic player at heart, he also is able to play standards, Brazilian music, typical soul-jazz, or even bop while avoiding the funk clichés that oftentimes tend to water this music down. A welcome partnership on this disc with the legendary veteran organist Melvin Rhyne ramps up the cachet of the session -- Asche's second as a leader -- while rock-solid drummer George Fludas keeps the content of this consistently swinging and sizzling music at a point just short of bubbling over. Of course, the connection between the late great Montgomery and his sidekick and fellow Indianapolis native Rhyne is all too evident, whether on the molasses-slow ballad "I Thought About You," the calm swing of "Watch What Happens," or the bopping "Swedish Schnapps"-quoting "I Got Rhythm," all strong examples of meat-and-potatoes, Midwestern-values jazz. Groove is just as important as swing on the basic, clean, and bouncy title track, which emphasizes Asche's penchant for single-string melody lines, while "Killer Ray" is the definitive track here, one full-length and one edited for radio airplay, both with the Chicago blues innards, tambourine accents, and sneaky key changes that make this type of soul-jazz enlivening and ultimately enjoyable. If you still have not been convinced that Rhyne is a grand master, check out "Nite Vidual," where his popping rhythmic stance in basic and staccato chord reinforcements drives his bandmates to a higher plane. The throaty whole-note organ solo on the slowish samba "Gentle Rain" should move anyone emotionally, while Rhyne's dominance during the hard bop/calypso "Snapshot" brings back audio images of Dizzy Gillespie's buoyant, happy sound. A privilege for Asche to be teamed with the still fabulous Rhyne, it may reduce the guitarist to a secondary role, but the chemistry here is really good, as everything on the program fits well in sequence. From the first note to the last, this is a treat for any straight-ahead jazz lover who wants to hear both traditional and contemporary takes on a popular form of jazz that still lives on, and in many ways is flourishing.