It’s fascinating to consider the way a group’s name and the album art can affect the way you listen to the music. The artwork throughout the self-titled album by The Impossible Gentlemen owes a great deal to the painter René Magritte. So when the first tune, “Laugh Lines,” by the group’s guitarist Mike Walker, opens with furiously fast and impossibly intricate melody lines, you are immediately caught up in a surreal world.
The album calms down with the next tune, “Clockmaker” (also by Walker), but even that has its own interweaving musical gears. By the time you get to “You Won’t Be Around To See It” and “Play The Game” a few tracks later, both by the group’s pianist, Gwilym Simcock, the complex lines by Simcock and Walker tell you you’re definitely through the looking glass.
Aside from Simcock on piano and Walker, guitar, The Impossible Gentlemen are Steve Swallow, bass and Adam Nussbaum, drums. Although it is Simcock and Walker who most often take the spotlight with breathtaking solos, both Swallow and Nussbaum contribute mightily to the overall intricacy and excellence of the album.
The majority of the tunes are by Simcock and Walker with Nussbaum contributing one. Aside from the uptempo compositions that dominate there are several ballads, including the beautiful “Wallenda’s Last Stand” (Walker), which nicely evokes a melancholy bygone circus act, and Nussbaum’s languid and gorgeous mid-tempo song, “Sure Would Baby.”
Speaking of Cd Reviews, jazz
-
-
INTERVIEW: Pink Martini
- Jun 12, 2013
-
-
INTERVIEW: Anat Cohen
- Jun 12, 2013
-
-
INTERVIEW: Rudresh Mahanthappa
- Jun 12, 2013
- More »
Latest in Music Reviews
-
-
CD Review: The Jay D’Amico Quintet “Tango Caliente”
“Tango Caliente,” the new album by The Jay D’Amico Quintet, is so good it may make you wonder why D’Amico is not better known. Over his four decade career he’s collaborated extensively with bassist Milt Hinton, and from 1984 to the night before 9/11, D’Amico was pianist in residence at Windows on the World, the restaurant at the top of the World Trade Center.
- May 8, 2013
-
-
CD Review: Pascal Le Boeuf “Pascal’s Triangle”
Pianist Pascal Le Boeuf is a 21st century renaissance man. He’s made inroads in the worlds of classical music, indie-rock, and jazz. With his identical twin brother Remy, he’s won top awards in various international songwriting competitions. “Pascal’s Triangle” finds Le Boeuf in a jazz trio setting with excellent partners Linda Oh on bass and Justin Brown on drums.
- May 8, 2013
-
-
CD Review: Homiside "Back For More"
It’s a singles market these days, so when an album gets released it feels like a big deal. “Back For More” is a debut album from Rochester based rapper Mike Parlayan, aka Homiside.
- Apr 23, 2013
- More »
More by Ron Netsky
-
-
MUSIC PREVIEW: International Society of Bassists Convention
Swing low
- May 29, 2013
-
-
JAZZ | Bob Sneider
- Jun 12, 2013
- More »
Latest in Music Reviews
-
-
CD Review: The Jay D’Amico Quintet “Tango Caliente”
“Tango Caliente,” the new album by The Jay D’Amico Quintet, is so good it may make you wonder why D’Amico is not better known. Over his four decade career he’s collaborated extensively with bassist Milt Hinton, and from 1984 to the night before 9/11, D’Amico was pianist in residence at Windows on the World, the restaurant at the top of the World Trade Center.
- May 8, 2013
-
-
CD Review: Pascal Le Boeuf “Pascal’s Triangle”
Pianist Pascal Le Boeuf is a 21st century renaissance man. He’s made inroads in the worlds of classical music, indie-rock, and jazz. With his identical twin brother Remy, he’s won top awards in various international songwriting competitions. “Pascal’s Triangle” finds Le Boeuf in a jazz trio setting with excellent partners Linda Oh on bass and Justin Brown on drums.
- May 8, 2013
-
-
CD Review: Homiside "Back For More"
It’s a singles market these days, so when an album gets released it feels like a big deal. “Back For More” is a debut album from Rochester based rapper Mike Parlayan, aka Homiside.
- Apr 23, 2013
- More »
More by Ron Netsky
-
-
JAZZ | Mack Goldsbury Quartet
- May 29, 2013
-
-
CD Review: Pascal Le Boeuf “Pascal’s Triangle”
Pianist Pascal Le Boeuf is a 21st century renaissance man. He’s made inroads in the worlds of classical music, indie-rock, and jazz. With his identical twin brother Remy, he’s won top awards in various international songwriting competitions. “Pascal’s Triangle” finds Le Boeuf in a jazz trio setting with excellent partners Linda Oh on bass and Justin Brown on drums.
- May 8, 2013
- More »
