SCOTT WALLINGFORD — Deja Bleu (review)

SCOTT WALLINGFORD — Deja Bleu album cover Album · 2011 · Blues Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
js
“Deja Bleu” is a self-produced and self-released debut CD by San Diego based bass player Scott Wallingford. This is very much an “indie” jazz affair, so don’t expect fancy recordings or production values. Most of the tunes on here consist of standard blues changes topped with solid jazz solos, which makes for some of the most un-pretentious music around. The lack of studio slickness does not undermine things in the least, in fact the simple raw nature of this recording only adds to this CD’s appeal. Scott uses a rotating cast of players on here which adds variety through each player’s unique solo takes on the jazz-blues language. There is a fun casual nature to this music with an undercurrent of good natured humor. Guitarist Robert Sebastian obviously knows his jazz and blues, but he is apt to do an occasional solo with an over the top distorted metal sound set to 11 that almost buries the rest of the band. This lack of straight-faced adherence to tradition also adds to the band’s loose appeal. All of the playing on here is nice, but guest pianist Doug Kwandel really stands out on “Afternoon in I.B.” with his odd Monk inspired solo with its striking off-meter syncopations.

Two tunes on here offer slightly different musical styles and what sounds like professional studio recorded sound. The previously mentioned “Afternoon in I.B.” is in a neo-bop style, and “Salva Azul” is a blues/Latin jazz hybrid. Overall the music on this CD sounds like classic Saturday afternoon jazz for an outdoor deck at your local club, fun music for kicking back that is totally devoid of any heavy attitude. In an interesting side note, I rarely recognize the player’s names on these sort of local recordings, but was really surprised and pleased to see the great trumpet player Burnett Anderson on here. Oddly enough, I know Burnett from the Dallas scene, I guess he works in San Diego now.
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