Instead of delving into the Halloween world of ghosts and goblins, jazz fans were given the chance to hear the debut album of a different kind of spirit, that coming from the guitar of Indian born, LA local Pritesh Walia. He just released his debut album with a simpatico team of bassist Christopher Worden and drummer Gen Yoshimura, and it so impressed me that I risked the wrath of the neighborhood Trick or Treaters to check out to see how this swinging album might sound in concert. Dare, I say? It was a treat!
Walia has an approach to the guitar similar to the lines of a Larry Coryell and John Scofield, but his compositions and playing style have a rich and fragrant melodicism that is fresh and attractive. He opened the 70 minute set with a lovely solo intro to “Brief” that was as alluring as any Italian aria gliding into an earthy Latin flavor and lithe cadence from the rhythm team. Worden led the way through the hip groove of “Low Talks” as Walia mixed crisp chords and solo runs, sidestepping the common error of new artists by not overindulging when in the spotlight.
A delicately understated read of The Beatles’ “Blackbird” had Walia adding some clever harmonies, while his elegiac selection of pickings melding with Warden’s bowed drone to “Staying Home” mixed Indian moods to Western swing. Walia’s calypso’d guitar pickings on “Hope Town” started off with a gentle gait before Yoshimura and Worden bore down into a sprint and the drummer solo’d like he was working the steel drums. As the closing “Finishing” mixed cantering chords with optimistic themes, one couldn’t help wondering what new musical lands this fresh painter of portraits might take the guitar to.
As with Martin Luther who started the Reformation on October 31, it’s possible that Walia is setting up his own thesis for changing the local landscape.
Upcoming shows at Sam First Bar include Jonathan Pinson 11/05, Nicolas Bearde 11/06 and Nduduzo Makhathini 11/08