Label: Blue Note Records, 2022
Personnel - Julian Lage: electric guitar; Bill Frisell: electric guitar, baritone guitar; Jorge Roeder: acoustic bass; Dave King: drums.
American guitarist Julian Lage cultivates a unique sound that combines roots and progression. He has been calling attention both through his own albums and sideperson credits (Charles Lloyd, Gary Burton, John Zorn, and Nels Cline). The awaited sophomore album on the Blue Note imprint, View With a Room, is the follow-up to last year’s Squint, featuring his working trio with bassist Jorge Roeder and The Bad Plus drummer, Dave King. But for this outing, the gifted guitarist Bill Frisell was invited to play a few tracks, perfectly serving the musical sensibilities of Lage compositions. The two guitarists are in absolute control of the fretboard, and never resort to pyrotechnics to impress. Instead, they deliver beautifully texturized music with an immense and effortless harmonic scope.
“Tributary”, the opening piece, and “Echo”, which was written and arranged by Lage and Roeder, are highlights, exemplifying this capacity to create rich textures and employ stunning melodies without overplaying. Bookended by tasteful electronics and an Americana-tinged atmosphere, the former flows with silky chord progressions and passages with delicate detail, spectacular staccatos, lustrous octaves, and smartly controlled articulations. The latter tune, starting with a prominent bass figure, brings together charming tones and a certain cinematic mystery. Excellent note choices elevate the poignancy, just like in “Let Every Room Sing”, a chorale-like song impregnated with warm classical innuendos. Complementary guitar layers with occasional harmonics rest on top of the spare, if loose, commentary provided by Roeder and King.
Lage and his partners leap into the closer, “Fairbanks”, as well as the sprightly “Chavez”, whose B section recalls Sting’s former group The Police, with a pop/rock frame of mind. In reality, this album is made of borderless music, and if “Temple Step” is a blues with a reggae touch (Frisell plays baritone guitar here), then “Auditorium” promotes an alliance between country-pop and the crunchy, contemporary snare-driven rhythmic tapestry at the base. On its part, the waltz “Word For Word”, delivered in trio, has that irresistible bounce of Jim Hall and Bill Evans, as well as a polyrhythmic feel edged by triplets on the drummer’s side.
This recording, displaying the magnitude of the composer’s gifts, exudes virtuosity and sincerity all around - from composition to sonic maturation to execution.
Favorite Tracks:
01 - Tributary ► 02 - Word For Word ► 05 - Echo