Sam Gendel - Music for Saxofone & Bass Guitar More Songs (2021)

Prolific LA horn virtuoso Sam Gendel follows up his 2018 collab with bassist Sam Wilkes; u know what to expect by now, this is blunted bliss - all muted horn blasts and post-beat scene funk. Positive, spiritual meditations that we probably don't deserve.

Gendel's faded post-Dilla funk has been a reliable constant over the last year or so, and "Music for Saxofone & Bass Guitar More Songs" is more fuel on the fire. His deeply Californian sense of timing and harmonic sunshine is blessed here by extra soul from bassist Wilkes, and the duo go back and forth without overthinking anything.

The original album was recorded quickly to a 4-track recorder, and this process captures the immediacy of the duo's collaboration. On opening track 'Theem Prototype' they mirror that album's 'Theem and Variations' with squashed beats and a curling interplay between sax and bass.

Each track feels as if it's over too fast: 'I Sing High' is jubilant and tearfully effervescent, 'Streetlevel' is a clang and shake in a cavern of reverb, 'Flametop Green' sounds as if it's been recorded under blankets as the sun rises. It's healing music, and we could all use more of that right now.