Veteran
guitarist and composer GRANT GEISSMAN releases his 16th
album, BLOOZ, via his Futurism label in
a joint venture with Mesa/ Bluemoon Recordings. Leading the
way, he takes the listener on a stylistic adventure,
exploring the genre in many forms. “The album is called BLOOZ
because it’s my take on the blues. It’s a fairly wide
interpretation, and not always traditional,” said Geissman. “It’s
the album I always wanted to make.”
The
gospel oriented “Preach” (featuring RANDY BRECKER), the
Latin-influenced, Santana-inspired “Carlos En Siete” (featuring DAVID
GARFIELD), the funky “Robben’s Hood” (featuring ROBBEN FORD),
the blues shuffle “This and That” (featuring TOM SCOTT), the
mournfully bluesy “Sorry Not Sorry” (featuring RUSSELL FERRANTE),
the rockabilly-styled “Whitewalls and Big Fins” (featuring JOHN
JORGENSON), and the Bo Diddley-inspired, three-guitar shootout
“One G and Two J’s” (featuring JOSH SMITH and JOE
BONAMASSA), culminate in a project that might just surprise
listeners who think they had a handle on Geissman both as a player
and a composer. It’s clear that Geissman, whose storied solo
recording career began with Good Stuff (1978), continues to
seek out new creative directions and limitless musical
possibilities.
Geissman
has explored bluesy territory since his early days recording and
touring with flugelhorn great Chuck Mangione—an era highlighted by
his now-iconic electric guitar solo on “Feels So Good,” Mangione’s
1978 mega-hit. The San Jose native was in his senior year at Cal
State Northridge majoring in classical guitar when a mutual friend
recommended him for a gig with Mangione. The rest is a long,
colorful history of touring and recording that culminated in
Geissman’s critically acclaimed recording Cool Man Cool (2009),
which featured Mangione performing with jazz legend Chick Corea on
the Geissman composition “Chuck and Chick.”
Over
the years, Geissman lent his virtuosity to recordings by mainstream
artists such as Quincy Jones, Steve Tyrell, Burt Bacharach and
Elvis Costello, Van Dyke Parks and Brian Wilson, Robbie Williams,
and Michael Feinstein; jazz talents like Lorraine Feather, Gordon Goodwin’s
Big Phat Band, and David Benoit; and even personal heroes Ringo
Starr and Klaus Voormann. Grant grew up as a huge Beatles fan and
contributing to Starr’s Ringorama album fulfilled a lifelong
dream. Grant also played on a recording/ documentary about the life
of Voormann, the famed bassist, artist, and longtime member of the
Beatles’ inner circle.
A
session veteran of numerous film and television scores, Geissman
co-wrote the music for all 12 seasons of the hit CBS sitcom Two
and a Half Men, earning an Emmy nomination for the catchy theme
song. He co-wrote the music for all six seasons of Mike &
Molly, as well as for the first season of B Positive
(both on CBS). He has also contributed specialty music for such
shows as The Big Bang Theory and Mom.
In
the mid-1980s, eight years after Good Stuff, his debut on
Concord Jazz, Geissman launched an impressive string of pop and
jazz recordings that put his talents on display and helped define
the contemporary instrumental music of the era.
BLOOZ is the fourth album on Geissman’s own label,
Futurism, following the trilogy of Say That!, Cool Man
Cool, and BOP! BANG! BOOM! There is an audible
exultation and joy to be found in the music, as it was recorded
just after the COVID-19 shutdown ended. The musicians play with the
abandon of prisoners whose sentences have been commuted.
The
album opener, “Praise,” features guest trumpeter BRECKER,
who contributes a stinging soul-jazz solo. “Side Hustle” is a
bluesy rhumba—an oxymoron until you hear what Geissman and pianist JIM
COX do with it. The Santana-influenced “Carlos En Siete” is the
album’s furthest departure from traditional blues forms. Pianist GARFIELD
plays a masterful solo on this tune, which is in 7/4. The unusual
and challenging time signature takes nothing away from the killer,
percussion-driven Latin groove. “Time Enough at Last” is a minor
blues that would be quite at home on a 1960s Blue Note album. Grant
and pianist FERRANTE make strong solo statements, and trade
fours before the return of the melody.
BLOOZ features sax on only two songs. TOM SCOTT’s
tenor sax cuts the groove deep on the soulful “Fat Back,” and
offers a swinging rejoinder on the jazz shuffle “This and That.”
Switching gears, “Rage Cage” is a scorching track that finds
Geissman battling it out with Cox on B3 organ, sounding something
like a mash-up of ZZ Top and Jimmy Smith.
“Robben’s
Hood” is a funky groover that features Geissman and blues/jazz
gunslinger ROBBEN FORD. They play the melody together, and
then split off to each offer stingingly facile solos. “One G and
Two J’s” is a Bo Diddley-influenced tune that features Grant,
JOSH SMITH, and JOE BONAMASSA playing a three-guitar
melody together followed by each contributing some crazily great
blues-based shredding.
“Whitewalls
and Big Fins” is a rockabilly-styled tune with JOHN JORGENSON
and Geissman sharing the melody, and then each producing some
nimble solo picking, while “Stranger Danger” is a seductively
understated, darkly moody minor blues that features Grant and
pianist Ferrante. The album’s final track, “Sorry Not Sorry,” is an
introspective ballad that begins with just solo guitar.
BLOOZ is a collaboration between Geissman’s Futurism
label and Mesa/Bluemoon, marking his return to a label that
released four of his albums in the early 1990s. “I am very excited
about working with Grant again on this excellently crafted album,”
said Mesa/Bluemoon honcho George Nauful. “In 33 years
of running the label, I can honestly say that his releases are
among my very favorites. I love every track on this new album! All
the compositions and the musicianship are off the charts. I know it
will be a huge critical success.”
“My
decision to start the Futurism label and writing and recording in a
more traditional jazz vein, came after several years of soul
searching to figure out what I wanted to do and what kind of music
would mean something to me,” Geissman said. One of the reasons I
created the label was so that I could explore anything I
wanted—which to me is what an artist is supposed to do. On BLOOZ,
with the help of great friends and incredible musicians, I had some
of the most fun and made some of the best music of my career. And
what could be wrong with that?”
# # #
BLOOZ was released on August 19, 2022 on Futurism
/Mesa/Bluemoon and is available everywhere.
Online:
Grantgeissman.com
Facebook.com/GrantGeissmanMusic
Twitter/IG: @grantgeissman
Mesabluemoon.com
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