Sokoband - Sokoband (featuring Dave Matthews, Tim Reynolds, LeRoi Moore and Steve Kimock)

Sokoband - Sokoband
2010, Breezeway Records

Sokoband (formerly Soko) is a Charlottesville, Virginia based Jazz duo that formed in 1990. Comprised of Michael Sokolowski (piano) and Houston Ross (bass), Sokoband has worked with a number of top name performers over the years. In 1996, Sokoband released their debut album, In November Sunlight. The album featured guest appearances from Dave Matthews, LeRoi Moore and Tim Reynolds, and sold very well for an instrumental jazz album because of their presence. Sokoband wasn't happy with the album as presented however, and undertook remaking it over the past two years. The result is Sokoband, which includes all eight tracks from In November Sunlight as well as two new tunes. Matthews, Reynolds and Moore came back for this new project. Additional guests include Steve Kimock (guitar), Mike Colley (guitar), David Cast (sax), John Zias (guitar) and David Darling (cello).

Opening with the frenetic synth of "Coast To Coast", Sokoband creates a danceable pop offering steeped in Herbie Hancock style jazz/pop. It's an enjoyable tune that allows the musicians to explore their own riffs and inspirations while sticking closely to the main theme. "Jiriki" has a Latin jazz feel, with acoustic and electric guitars trading riffs in against the tasteful waterfall backdrop created by the piano and percussion. "In November Sunlight" sounds like film score music, with Sokolowski developing a pervasive and memorable theme on piano. As other instruments come in they somewhat obscure the theme, but it resurfaces from time to time out of the depths to remind us all that it’s there.

Sokoband launches into a ten-minute plus progressive jazz/rock Odyssey in the form of "Energy Changed", playing with dark subtexts and distortion around a guitar-led theme that's as unsettled as it is iconic. It's not Pink Floyd, but could have spun from a Gilmour-inspired haze. "And Yet Your Smile", one of the new tracks this time around, plays like a 1970's easy listening jazz tune, with saxophone out front. While it's a decent listen, it is driven by a very different writing style than the older material. Where the older songs have a fresh edgy feel a decade and a half after they were written, "And Yet Your Smile" sounds tired. "Half Sleep" is a repetitive expedition, holding space for the closing number, "Nightfall". "Nightfall" is the other new track on Sokoband; a moody variegated composition that dwells in ambience while it slowly progresses through an almost free-form melody.

Jazz fusion fans will love Sokoband. Hard-core Dave Matthews Band fans will snap it up (especially if they don't have 1996's In November Sunlight), but this is hardly a mainstream album. Sokoband is inventive and original at times, formulaic and derivative at others. The newer material, while relevant, just doesn't fit well with the original 8 songs. The original material gets new life here, mostly successfully. Sokoband is complex and highly musical when on their game.

Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Sokoband at http://www.sokoband.com/ or www.myspace.com/sokoband. Sokoband is available as either a CD or Download from Amazon.com.

Review: The Gravel Project - More Ways Than One

The Gravel Project - More Ways Than One
2010, The Gravel Project / ASCAP

Boston's The Gravel Project is the brainchild of first-call guitarist Andrew Gravel. A Boston native, Gravel previously lived for three years in Australia and then London, where he played with some of the brightest stars on the London Blues scene. Back in the US, Gravel was the guitarist of Entrain before forming The Gravel Project. With their distinctive mix of rock, funk and blues, The Gravel Project have become favorites in Boston, regularly playing to packed houses in venues such as The Middle East, Church and Tommy Doyles. The Gravel Project's debut album, More Ways Than One seeks to capture the live energy of the band in the studio.

More Ways Than One opens with a Muscle Shoals-influenced blue rock paean to the Great Recession and the greed that ignited it in "Dollar Bill". The Gravel Project show themselves to be the total package right out of the gate. Gravel is top notch on vocals and guitar, and the Hammond makes a serious first impression. "Too Many Drivers" is a tongue-in-cheek discussion of who's in charge, sprinkled with innuendo and gentle misdirection that's as entertaining as the great blues/rock arrangement. The Gravel Project finds a bit of magic on "Arugula Politics" with a funky, sassy horn/guitar combo. The song is highly danceable, but The Gravel Project sticks with the theme a bit too long.

"I'll Cry Instead" is an absolutely brilliant Beatles cover done in pure funk. The Gravel Project do the near-impossible with the Beatles classic; they make it their own without compromising the essential character or feel of the original. From The Beatles to Pink Floyd, a David Gilmour ambience is the focal point of "Mindstream", with ambient, dreamy guitar playing the foil to a shifting bed of sound. "My Baby" is a classic-sounding blues love song; it's definite mix-tape material. Gravel nails the vocal line, and the song is eminently listenable even if it does cross the cliché line pretty seriously. More Ways Than One closes with "Blues For L.A.", juxtaposing a lyric vocal line with a gritty blues rock tune.

More Ways Than One turns out to be a highly enjoyable listening experience with a few kinks and wrinkles. The Gravel Project plays tight, blues-influenced rock n roll that explodes with energy. Andrew Gravel is a highly capable front man, driving the band forward with a reclusive yet energetic style that's not to be missed on CD, but is probably best served on stage. Perhaps what is most impressive is that Gravel and his cohorts treat the blending of Blues, Funk and Rock as reverently as if it were its own distinct art form. More Ways Than One is the first stop on a long journey for The Gravel Project. It’s perhaps not an album you will listen to all the time, but it is one you’ll keep coming back to again and again.

Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about The Gravel Project at http://www.thegravelproject.com/ or www.myspace.com/thegravelproject. More Ways Than One is available from CDBaby.com as either a CD or Download.

Review: Strangers Pass - Strangers Pass [EP]

Strangers Pass - Strangers Pass [EP]
2009, Strangers Pass

Strangers Pass is a power-trio that derives its sound from a wealth of influences. Singer/guitarist Robert Sadowski credits Hendrix, David Gilmour, Jimmy Page, Tommy Iommi and Brian May, whereas Bass man Bob Mikkelsen grew up on a hybrid diet of The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Metallica, Rush and Yes. Drummer Frank Gattuso leaned toward John Bonham and Bill Ward, but also had a strong affection for James Brown skins masters Clyde Stubblefied and Jabo Starks. Strangers Pass came together at an impromptu jam session in August of 2008 that was meant to be for fun but turned out to be for good. 2009 sees the release of their debut, self-titled EP. The styles and sounds that influenced each band member combine here to create a hard nosed Rock N Roll album with subtle influences and pensive interchanges.

Strangers Pass opens with Alone, an aggressive rocker that sounds a bit like what Black Sabbath might have sounded in their early, garage days. Strangers Pass does an about face on 400 Monroe, a moody and introspective rocker ala Pearl Jam. Snake Charmer is another dark and pensive rocker that calls out a manipulator. See Them All sticks to the dark musical aspect that runs through the EP, rebounding for an almost hopeful, ambient chorus before ricocheting back into darkness. Through The Maze finds Strangers Pass ending in a melodic and unthreatening fashion, with an upbeat yet mellow performance that sounds more commercial alt-pop than anything else on the EP.

Strangers Pass does an imitation of the month of March on their self-titled EP: In like a lion, out like a lamb, although Through The Maze does show some verve in the chorus. When I read the bio on Strangers Pass and saw the range of influences I was very excited. Here is an opportunity to take some grand musical traits and construct something new and original. In fact, the opposite has happened. Strangers Pass have taken the core elements and wiped away the things that don't match, much like finding the universal elements on a musical Venn Diagram. The result is essentially a mellow grunge album that sounds something like Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Temple Of The Dog, etc. It's a good listen, but not necessarily what you'd expect.

Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 5)

You can learn more about Strangers Pass at www.myspace.com/strangerspass.