Subtle Disguise

JazzTimes Track Premier Locke is joined on "Subtle Disguise" by guitarist Adam Rogers, keyboardist Jim Ridl, bassist Lorin Cohen, and drummer Samvel Sarkisyan. Elsewhere on the album, there are appearances by guitarist/singer Raul Midón, alto saxophonist David Binney, and singer Alina Engibaryan. Seven of the album's nine tracks, including the title cut, are originals; the two remaining songs are Bob Dylan's "Who Killed Davey Moore?" and Blind Willie Johnson's "Motherless Children" (both featuring Midón).

"Subtle Disguise," according to its author, "is about the masks we all wear, for various reasons. Many good souls feel the need to disguise their vulnerabilities, while others wear a smiling mask to hide a malevolent agenda. Whatever the reason, these disguises are hard to shed. The song is also so named because it's based on a disguised version of a Miles Davis song from the 1950s." (Can you guess which one?)

Locke recently joined fellow vibraphonists Stefon Harris, Warren Wolf, and Joel Ross for a conversation on their chosen instrument that appeared in the November 2018 issue of JazzTimes.