Julian Lage - Arclight (2016)

Guitarist Julian Lage releases 'Arclight', which marks his first recorded outing on electric guitar and in a trio format, backed by double bassist Scott Colley and drummer Kenny Wollesen. The album showcases Lage's growth as a leader and songwriter, and further solidifies his status as a premier guitar virtuoso.

The pace he sets is brisk, the mood often upbeat, the playing so quick-witted and offhandedly dazzling that one is compelled to immediately press "repeat," especially when tracks like "Persian Rug" and "Activate" whiz by in under two and a half minutes. For a thoughtful artist like Lage, who will research and ruminate on a project long before he sets foot in a studio, this was a liberating experience, plugging in and playing with a kind of abandon.

Though up to now Lage has largely recorded and performed original material, he wanted to explore his interpretive skills on 'Arclight', concentrating on music from the early to mid-20th century, "jazz before be-bop." Including Spike Hughes' "Nocturne", W.C. Handy's "Harlem Blues," a Gus Kahn-Neil Moret piano roll number. The rest of the album consists of originals, which, notes Lage, "celebrate the other period I'm obsessed with, the Keith Jarrett American quartet period, an improvisational jazz era that had such a rich connection to songs and to folk music. This was the concept for the album."

Julian Lage (guitar)
Scott Colley (bass)
Kenny Wollesen (drums, percussion)