Oblivity

Shawn Purcell's "Oblivity" is an album of guitar modernism. His long, continuous lines shaped by motivic insistence and impeccable contour sounds unmistakably like 2025, but come from the heritage of the titans of jazz guitar. Purcell is a scholar-practitioner who's literally published on Martino's devices (notably the role of repetitive motives in shaping forward motion), and he even performs on a Benedetto Pat Martino Signature model, which is a practical and symbolic tie to the lineage. Purcell has absorbed the through-line and refracts it with present-tense tone craft (distortion, delay, guitar synth colors) and rigorous ensemble architecture. He has been documenting this connection since his earlier "180" was widely read as tipping the hat to Martino alongside Montgomery and Grant Green, so "Oblivity" reads like the next chapter.

Across the album's ten originals, Purcell writes with a command of form and a bandleader's feel for chemistry. The frontline with Walt Weiskopf on saxophone is conversational; Darden Purcell's vocal colors broaden the palette without softening the edges on select tracks; and the rhythm team (Chris Ziemba on piano, Jeff Reed on bass, Steve Fidyk on drums) moves with adaptable precision. Production choices come from Tonal Park tracking and Dave Darlington's mix/master, keep transients crisp and the midrange articulate, which matters when guitar/sax unisons need to read like calligraphy.

"Oblivity," the opener, is a small seminar on continuity. Purcell deploys various guitar tones to add interest. He leans on distortion, reverb, delay, and a touch of chorus for his solo. The result is a tone clean enough to preserve articulation yet warm enough to carry body. His picking and slurring combinations keep the eighth-note lines swinging, maintaining rhythmic authenticity and forward drive. It's Martino's sense of eight note propulsion updated with modern timbral shading. Showing that effects don't have to flatten swing.

"Verdigris" is nearly ten minutes of patient architecture that lets the music breathe in long phrases. Purcell's solo is the clear peak of motivic repetition as forward motion: dark but clean tone, reverb and delay only for body, pick attack crisp but never harsh. His Martino lineage shows in the way long lines connect harmonic goal posts using minor conversion colors, punctuated by chordal stabs that provide emphasis amid single-note flow. The effect is structural and emotive, expanded with Purcell's own harmonic daring.

In "Meu Amor" Purcell dials in his Benedetto box to a warm, sweet voice. The melody begins tutti with saxophone and guitar, and when Darden Purcell enters, her relaxed phrasing softens and complements Shawn's timbre. Shawn and Darden share that supple, expressive time feel that sits perfectly in the clave-inflected sway. In his solo, Shawn swings his sixteenth-note lines into a double-time push, shaping the tune's climax before returning gracefully to the melody. This is where Martino's rhythmic lineage shines. It's Martino's rhythmic insistence meeting Brazilian inflection, alive in modern hands.

"Flow" features the guitar synth, here unmistakably closer to a compressed, overdriven guitar envelope colored with a lead-synth timbre. It's an overdriven sustain with a tone profile that provides lift and sheen, swinging with surprising buoyancy. This timbre lets Purcell shape his lines differently, integrating them into the continuity of pulse, letting modern technology extend tradition.

In the longer view, "Oblivity" advances a familiar jazz-history pattern of Montgomery to Martino to post-Martino modernists. The stylistic language is consistently delightful to hear. Purcell's pedagogy on Martino gives him a deep level connection to the guitar, synthesizing the continuous melodic line and the motivic drive that defines this style. He then pushes the music forward with modern color, employing distortion, synth textures, and savvy compositions. Contemporary and disciplined enough to satisfy any jazz fan. This is Purcell carrying the flame forward, reshaping it for the times.