I hear this rich sense of harmony in Blotnick's music. On "Thinning Air," he mirrors Pete Robins' saxophone lines before adding that touch of 'out.' He lays down some delicate unison lines with Robins on the noir-ish blues of "The Quiet Space Left Behind." Somewhat unusual (lately, anyway), he seems as comfortable in his instrument's lower registers as with the high end. The title track again finds Blotnick spending some time in those subtle angularities that bring me back to Jim Hall. There are touches of influences Bertoncini ("Winter Melt") and Metheny ("Wrong Turns") as well. None of this is to say that Blotnick isn't his own man. While "Liberty" might have a little Wes Montgomery vamp going on, the guitar solo takes several surprising turns.
The complement of Blotnick's band deserves some credit here as well. Alberto Sanz on piano, Joe Smith (drum), and Perry Wortman (bass) definitely know how to bring it...as well as get out of the way.
So here we have some new music that has no history with me, and yet is drawn into a particular cross section my story. While you can't really know this bit of my internal landscape, I can guarantee that you'll still love the music.
(Music Needs You will be released on February 12, 2009 on Songlines Recordings)
Article comments
1 - Pico
This Blotnick dude is someone whose music I'm going to have to investigate. Thanks for the tip!