Mark Whitfield [7th Ave Stroll]A cheap acquisition from upstairs in a bargain department from a second-hand record shop, i search through the rubbish left overs, and now and again you find a gem, i bought this for £1 or £2, but it turned out to be a priceless disc of Guitar Jazz music, this genre of Jazz can have a tendency to be more smooth and mainstream, the tracks have a tendency to be shorter, unlike the saxophone, when you think of guitar, you think of Rock for electric, and Folk for acoustic, i find it hard to get a true HardBop Jazz Guitarist that plays serious music, there's too much 'soulful doodling', Mark Whitfield is excellent, i played this same disc right at the start of my Blog [7th January 2010].
Mark Whitfield is an American Jazz Guitarist, born in 1967, he made this recording in 1995, the booklet is actually one of those poster fold out affairs, usually i don't like these, but at least this one has nice folds so that it opens like a booklet at first, the front cover [by Kwaku Alston] is awesome, with excellent pictures throughout, the cover is a long exposure photograph, with i take it a flash in there somewhere, you can see the ghostly images of people behind Whitfield, and some vehicle rushing by, a black and white shot, but it's nicely splashed with red for his name, and some choice lettering too, the back insert is also well done.
What a lovely album, Whitfield actually creates two separate quartets here, one with an established group of older masters, and the other with a younger crew of Jazz interpreters, i really think i prefer the older gentlemen, they really bring wisdom to the table, the album is all about New York in the titles, most of the tracks are Whitfield originals, the four very best tracks were 1-2, 7 & 9, and it's track 9 'Sunset At Waterside' that is a genius of a composition,
Here's the Verve music website, where you can listen to samples from the album.
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