It's on track four that things begin to really get interesting, sonically speaking. On "Breeze On A Bay", Thomas and crew take off to India, in a track whose combination of tabla drums and acoustic guitars is very reminiscent of John McLaughlin's mid-1970s pioneering jazz-raga fusion with the group Shakti, but with a much more accessible melody than McLaughlin's modal mazes. An alto sax solo gives way to a complex synthesized tone, reminiscent of some of Steve Winwood's keyboard solos of his Arc of a Diver period. It could very well be Thomas on a guitar synth, of course!
Track seven, "Way-farther", begins with rain and wind loops for its opening, which give way to nice acoustic and clean electric guitar. There's a nice analog guitar-synth sound, very reminiscent of some of McLaughlin's work in the early-1980s, when he fronted a band whose keyboard player was armed with an early Synclavier synthesizer.
The second to last track, "Babes In Toyland" is just that, as Thomas and his ensemble weave acoustic and digitally delayed electric guitars through a maze of digital effects. Then there are echoes of some of Jimmy Page's raga-rock (think "White Summer" and "Black Mountain Side"), until the track culminates in samples of children's voices and another guitar-synth patch.
Music That Ingratiates With Its Listener
I've made several comparisons to John McLaughlin in this review. But it's unfair to say that Thomas is strictly a McLaughlin clone. For one thing, Thomas's playing is more eclectic--if only because he doesn't need to prove, as McLaughlin seemingly must on every CD, that he can fit 72,392 notes into a single bar of music.
Jaz-Mobi's music ingratiates itself with the listener. And any jazz CD that combines great guitar playing, accessible melodies and rich digital recording strategies is a rare thing, and The Jaz-Mobi Project's CD is well-worth checking out for that very reason. Its subtle layers of sound may need a few listens to fully reveal themselves to you. But that's OK--this is a CD that holds up quite nicely to repeated playing.
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