Steve Adelson – Sonic Imagination review

Jazz and instrumental music are not elitist- the same way a non painter can go to a museum and enjoy a Matisse just for sheer color sake alone, the listener who only plays a radio can derive great enjoyment from the moods they experience when they listen to jazz and instrumental music. Sonic Imagination is one of those albums ripe with moods and variety to appeal to many listeners.

Steve wrote this entire album in a heroic two-week period, which amassed a very listenable collection of songs. Then surrounding himself with major domo talent, he recorded a consistent album, solid recognizable themes, with excellent playing and very memorable songs.

Metal Swing
- Steve shows he can really play on this metal swing. Opening with a harmonized diatonics on his Fretless Stick, the band then kicks in with Steve Fingersticking while the intro builds upward, establishing the frenzied beat by the talented David Langlois. Frank Vignola and Steve articulate so close that it is tough to tell which one is playing when. Steve’s use of the claw and a high 12 string MIDI patch really compliments Frank’s Django-like soloing. David Langlois’s deft fingertips on washboard and splash and splish cymbals keeps adding gasoline to the fire of this band of gypsys!
ABCD
-Beautiful cascading chords of both closed and open types set the mood. Infusing Chieli Minucci along with Frank and Steve, the notes swell, dance and smile in each other eyes then POP! Then the tune launches into an up mode with Larry Carlton type solos, varying between clean and distorted guitar sounds over a four-chord jam progression, then reestablishing the theme.

Minor Excursions
Every jazz record feels they need a Samba, so here it is.
Ala Green Dolphin Street, the tune begins with a Latin Start over a Samba beat, then modal soloing over a swing backdrop, and then back to Samba. Rachel Z comps keeping the harmony fresh and exciting, always keeping the voicings in the pocket.
Steve glides over the changes like a squirrel suit flyer over the Alps- soaring, gliding,
and with many twists and turns. Rachel Z’s solo is just excellent.

Sedona Tale
-Very modern sounding intro with heavily processed chords with tight chorusing, compression, frozen flange, octave generators, and controlled reverb. Next is an interesting mix of Steve’s fingersticking emulating the high string on a 5-string banjo with folky flavorings interspersed with chromatic chords. – Steve’s adept fingersticking adds much color to the piece.



Garden of Limahuli
-The money shot of the album in my opinion. The most accessible piece with a melody that stays with you long after the listening. A very modern piece with a very relaxed feel with absolutely beautiful playing by Steve and Rachel Z. This song will be home on a Sunday Morning, on a late night radio bumper as well as a film endscore. Ramona Spooney adds the joyous harmony vocals near the end to uplift the piece even further and to cap it off nicely.

Carnival Ucci
-Opening with Steve’s trademark hand over hand a minor third apart on the bass side of the Stick, and some heavy processing- setting the tone for another Samba/Swing trade 8’s song with the requisite hits to show the band is tight.
Steve shows his love for Wes with the octave lines on the melody. Again, the play on words Ucci for Chieli MinUCCI & Frank BellUCCI and a nice showcase for Chieli.

Leaded Bee
-Opening with a staccato octave fingersticking with saturated reverb by Steve, the piece gives way to a Post Bop Wes type guitar treat with flowing smooth lines traversing the chord changes. Steve changes tone to a compressed distorted guitar
for variance, reverting back to a clean sound to bring the accents home. Given Steve’s adept use of puns is evident in the title- “Let it Be”.

Like Jeff
-With a very wide open opening with very loose cymbal work, and arpeggios by Rachel Z, sparse guitar chords, the tune quickly moves into a very urban modern heavy ballad with a memorable guitar distorted reverb guitar line. Evocative of a lonely cityscape with wet streets and our protagonist walking away into the distance under streetlamps.

Trio of the Hot Club Mars
-Very Very Daring opening with loops, ring modulators, David L. moving in and out of rhythm and gonzo guitar playing- yielding to power chords establishing the theme of the piece very carefully straddling a melody over an ever shifting chromatic underlying harmony. This piece was tailor made for the talent that is only Oz Noy. Oz makes sense of it all and hotly solos over it. Further, in the only way it can…. It just ends.

Emmett and Yuta,
- Beautiful haunting and sad ballad named for the inventor of the Chapman Stick and his beloved wife, Yuta. Flat 5’s resolving upwards and #9th chords add the texture and tone to this meandering closing piece.
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All in all, Steve’s most listenable and accessible to a mass audience album to date. Congratulations on a very well recorded and professional testament to Steve’s and his incredible band mates’ album. Plus, it’s gluten free!
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Dave Brosky "DBro"

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