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Rez Abbasi — Django-Shift
(Whirlwind Recordings, 2020, CD / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2021-07-23

Django-Shift Cover art

Like most jazz guitarists, Rez Abbasi feels an affinity toward Django Reinhardt, the great Belgian guitarist who essentially invented the style called gypsy jazz and revolutionized the way guitar was used in jazz overall. With Django-Shift, Abbasi becomes the latest modern guitarist to offer up an album of tunes inspired by Reinhardt, but this is not a nostalgia-fest — hence the “-shift” part of the title, I suppose. While Abbasi does stick to acoustic guitars (both with and without frets), the rest of the band is modern, with organ, electronics, and synthesizers from Neil Alexander and drums by Michael Sarin; Alexander handles the bass parts. The arrangements are decidedly modern, at times edging up to a semi-acoustic fusion sound, giving these pieces associated with Django a very different sound than they’ve had before. “Swing 42” and “Heavy Atrillery” are standouts for the keyboard work, and Abbasi’s fretless guitar on the latter is used to great effect, providing some wonderful inflections to the melody. When they slip into a funky groove, it sounds totally appropriate, not like a classic piece is being mangled for the sake of modernity. Abbasi’s playing is supremely tasteful, focussed more on texture and mood than dexterity, and he’s a master on the fretless, bringing in an oud-like feeling. Special kudos are due to Alexander, whose keyboard work is outstanding. Even when he’s on organ, he’s got a way of twisting the sound out of the typical arena for the instrument, and on the synths he favors unconventional tones with a touch of ring modulation and unusual oscillator tunings. I don’t know much about him, and he doesn’t seem to have a lot of credits to his name, but he’s a really distinctive talent. Django-Shift is a very forward-looking album, though it has at least half an eye on the past, and should be a real treat to fans of jazz guitar who are looking for something different.

Filed under: New releases, 2020 releases

Related artist(s): Rez Abbasi

More info
http://rezabbasi-whirlwind.bandcamp.com/album/django-shift

 

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