I just had the opportunity to review the most recent release, Very Early (Remembering Bill Evans), by Jim Witzel Quartet, and it's terrific! Opening with Victor Young's, Beautiful Love, JimWitzel on guitar paints a lush landscape of guitar chords setting up this jazz standard. With Phil Aaron on piano punctuating the melody and Dan Feiszli on bass and Jason Lewis on drums, this track is really humming. Aaron really stretches the melody on piano giving the track real width and Feiszli and Lewis alternate riffs adding the depth. Excellent. opener. Steve Swallow's Falling Grace has a stylistic Latin rhythm and Witzel really rolls on guitar with flowing rhythmic lead and Aaron on piano uses a percussive style to really deliver the goods. John Carisi's Israel has an incredible groove. Witzel and Aaron outline the melody nicely in duet, with Aaron first breaking loose with a light piano lead with just the least amount of bass and drums to set up the interplay. Witzel steps up with really nice guitar lead slowly but certainly ramping up the track. His intuition is terrific ... I mean this groove will push you back in your seat. Lewis shows his crisp sense of rhythm and articulation before the rest of the band falls back wrapping the track. Very nice. Feiszli leads off Miles' Nardis with a super bass line. Witzel outlines the melody on guitar with Aaron working the counter and response. Taking the first solo line, Aaron sets a solid bop followed by lavish guitar lead by Witzel . Wrapping the release is Bill Evans' Peri's Scope with a tight Latin feel. Witzel and Aaron pair the lead before Witzel peels away with swinging, stylized guitar lead. Changing the rhythm up a little with cool rim shots by Lewis, Aaron hits it hard on piano before letting it go in full swing meeting back with Witzel for a warm finale. Excellent release.
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