Gene Ess at 55 Bar

New York guitarist Gene Ess enlists the singing talents of Nicki Parrott for his standards disc A Thousand Summers. The music swings hard with creative arrangements of timeless, musician-friendly tunes such as "I Didn't Know What Time it Was," "The Old Country" and "East of the Sun." With the aid of pianist James Weidman, bassist Thomson Kneeland and drummer Gene Jackson, Ess exhibits imaginative grace with soaring single-note lines. The guitarist, who has previously worked with the likes of Rashied Ali, Dave Liebman and Al Foster, manages a warm, thick tone and lyrical phrasing.Parrott, perhaps best known as the bassist in the late Les Paul's trio at New York's Iridium Jazz Club, sings in convincingly understated fashion. Her ability to convey simplicity with a challenging melody like Monk's "Looking Back (Reflections)" is most impressive....

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New York guitarist Gene Ess enlists the singing talents of Nicki Parrott for his standards disc A Thousand Summers. The music swings hard with creative arrangements of timeless, musician-friendly tunes such as "I Didn't Know What Time it Was," "The Old Country" and "East of the Sun." With the aid of pianist James Weidman, bassist Thomson Kneeland and drummer Gene Jackson, Ess exhibits imaginative grace with soaring single-note lines. The guitarist, who has previously worked with the likes of Rashied Ali, Dave Liebman and Al Foster, manages a warm, thick tone and lyrical phrasing.Parrott, perhaps best known as the bassist in the late Les Paul's trio at New York's Iridium Jazz Club, sings in convincingly understated fashion. Her ability to convey simplicity with a challenging melody like Monk's "Looking Back (Reflections)" is most impressive.

~John Barron, The Jazz Word
www.cdbaby.com/geneess4

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