Think “Smooth Jazz” is too bland, and post modern jazz too dissonant? Think you might like this guitarist, Eric Essix. He plays both electric and acoustic and has a nice tone 
and delivery on both ends of the scale. He joins together a band of Kelvin Wooten/p-b, Marcus Finnie/dr and Tamara Bodie/voc for the brunt of the songs, and while the material ranges from mellow magic to exciting charges, the themes throughout the session reflect a hearkening for racial harmony. Based on the cover photo of the leader in front of a church, I assume Essix knows that the only real hope for any peace is through a heart changed by God, but that’s another topic for another time.
Musically, Essix and company deliver a wondrously cool acoustic take of Dylan’s “Blowing in the Wind” while a gentle R&B feel underlies “Path to Peace” and “Love’s in Need of Love.” Essix’s solo guitar treatment of John Coltrane’s “Alabama” is a stunner, and the churchified take of “Amen/This Little Light of Mine” brings the solution to the world’s problems back to the source, or should I say Source. Most intriguing to the jazzers will be the percussive “Foot Soldiers” and multi-hued “Evolution” which both feature some excellent guitar soloing and piano musings supported by the rhythm section. Nice outing!
Essential Recordings