An Amazing Album

By: Frank James on 06/23/2011 12:11:19 PM

From the first assertive chords of Swing 42 through the wonderfully fresh treatment of Minor Swing, this album is a delight. Anyone familiar with Jason Anick’s work in the Jorgenson quintet knows his endless inventiveness and monster technique. In this first solo album, he showcases his personal take on classics as well as breaking some new ground. You might wonder how anybody could do anything new with Minor Swing. Amazingly, Anick pulls it off. The familiar intro is rhythmically customized so when you recognize it, you get a pleasant shock. Anybody knowledgeable about the genre will recognize the chord pattern pretty quickly but the unexpected changes and twists are enough to leave you shaking your head in silent glee. And Nuages, a great tune but one that all too often is treated like a stodgy classic, turns out to be the swinging foxtrot that Django certainly meant it to be. The original tunes on the album are each a peek into a different musical world. Some first albums are filled not with a dozen tunes but with the same tune a dozen times, slightly tweaked. Anick’s compositions, many written with Peter Anick, each have an individual personality. Le Feu Le Plus Beau is my favorite this week but I’m a sucker for mandolin. Jason Anick, in case you didn’t know, is a virtuoso on that instrument as well. This song, written with his brother, is a Gallic waltz that would have been right at home in Montmartre in 1938. With John Jorgenson and Gonzalo Bergara sitting in – not to mention the terrific guitar work by John McGann on a Beatles classic - this is one of those albums that gets better with each listening. It is the first installment in what is certain to be a distinguished recording career by a young man who is already a master. It is a terrific, terrific album that nobody should miss.