Six strings gently strung…
Benjamin Schnake plays mostly nylon but occasionally plugs in on this lithe mix of Brazilian with Dave Pietro/as, Sunhyun Yoo/as-ss, Tim Struven/ts, John Blevins/tp, Eric Quinn/tb, Jennifer Wharton/btb, Ammon Swinbank/fl in a mix and match along with a rhythm team of Santiago Leibson/p, Gui Duvignau/b and Paul Shaw/dr. With only Yoo in the horn section, Schnake delivers a graceful samba on “Fragment” while with Swinbank he switches to mandolin to create dainty droplets of joy on the almost Oriental “Lakitas”. With the horns, Leibson and Schnake sway through a Latinized take of Charles Mingus’ classic “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” and the team is joyful on the smooth sailing of “Marisol”. Breezy beach sounds.
Spanish flavored guitarist Bryan Lubeck mixes his Andalusian tastes with strings and horns in a rich paella of moods. There’s a rich delicacy to the title tune, while he gives an American folk feel to the rural “Alex Arrives” and the simple pleasures of “Adirondack”. The strings serve as lovely apparel for “Sun Dress” and are genteel on the synthy “If You Only Knew”. Lubeck bears down a bit on the fun R&Bish take of “Sara Smile” and is rocks out a tad for “Rocket Fuel”. The overall effect is a rich and multi-hued tapestry a la Raphael.
Guitarist Lawson Rollins goes acoustic, electric, nyloned and even does some drum programming and keyboards on his latest Latin lover of an album that hs him teamed with Dan Feiszli/b, Marty Fettig/ss, Dave Bryant/dr-perc, Stephen Duros/keys, and a wondrous string team of Mads Tolling-vi-v, Charlie Bisharat/v-vi, Kelley Maulbetsch/cel and Joseph Heber/cel. The strings flow gorgeously on “Emerge” and give a gypsy feel to the sleek “Bossa Nova California” while Jeff Pierre’s voice ads extra atmosphere on the folksy “Rise” and flies over the loping bass line on the upbeat “Free To Fly”. Flamenco sketches are painted by Rollins during the table dance of “Escalante” and a Middle Eastern adventure gives exotic sunsets for “ Quest”. Rollins does some electronic effects to show a new direction during “Come To Light” and sounds almost oud-ish on “Ascension”. A few new positive directions in Rollins’ map.