Oblivity

One of the trickiest aspects of jazz, and especially for guitarists like Shawn Purcell, is to develop a personal and unique sound. I feel that this guy's got one, and although you can hear hints of his predecessors from Montgomery to Metheny, you can definitely recognize him in a lineup. Here, he plays guitar and guitar synth with Walt Weiskopf/ts, Ben Patterson/tb, Darden Purcell/voc, Chris Ziemba/p-key, Jeff Reed/b and Steve Fidyk/dr for a collection of rich originals.

On the synth strings, he creates a dark mood with Patterson around Reed's line on "Quiet The Chaos" while getting Metheny-magisterial along with Weiskopf on "Flow". Ms. Purcell's ethereal voice adds to the magic of the guitarist's tensile tone of "Verdigris" and is dreamy around the draped six strings of "Meu Amor". The team sizzles as Zimba digs into the bopper "Move The Needle" and the team boogaloos to "Primaries and Spares". Any trips to So Cal?