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Jimbo Ross: Jazz Passion & Satin Latin

By Nicholas F. Mondello
September 1, 2024
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Jazz Passion & Satin Latin from elite viola player

Jimbo Ross

viola

" data-original-title="" title="">Jimbo Ross offers a dozen selections drawn across a wide array of resources. From tried-and-true GASsers, to more obscure, but, fascinating, jazz compositions, all seasoned with Latin flavorings, Ross and his compadres deliver an invigorating session.

The album opens auspiciously with Ross in viola-guitar unison in a heated Latin-straight-ahead take covering of "Delilah." It mirrors

Clifford Brown

trumpet
b.1930

" data-original-title="" title="">Clifford Brown and

Max Roach

drums
1925 - 2007

" data-original-title="" title="">Max Roach's arrangement from their classic 1954 Grammy Hall of Fame album. Ross takes off con fuego before pianist

Stuart Elster

keyboards

" data-original-title="" title="">Stuart Elster and guitarist

Joe Gaeta

guitar

" data-original-title="" title="">Joe Gaeta offer their own torrid solos. Ross is spotlit on "Polkadots and Moonbeams." It is presented in a light ballad-swing lilt. Ross takes the call and response melodic format of

Wes Montgomery

guitar
1923 - 1968

" data-original-title="" title="">Wes Montgomery's early recording, "Jingles," and develops it into a burner, albeit somewhat slower than the original. Ross's throaty viola sings and solos on his lovely, but oddly-named for a waltz, "Don the Working Man." The composer stretches out nicely here, as does Elster.

Ross, a well-recorded session player across the pop, rock and jazz worlds, is a marvelously interesting player—and not only for his special 5-string electric viola/violin which he calls his "guit-fiddle." He has awesome technical chops, a joyous performing flair, and displays a stylistically swinging energy that reverberates back to the great violinists such as

Joe Venuti

violin
1903 - 1978

" data-original-title="" title="">Joe Venuti,

Stephane Grappelli

violin
1908 - 1997

" data-original-title="" title="">Stephane Grappelli,

Stuff Smith

violin
1909 - 1967

" data-original-title="" title="">Stuff Smith, and more recently,

Jean-Luc Ponty

violin
b.1942

" data-original-title="" title="">Jean-Luc Ponty.

Three well-worked standards comprise the heart of the album. "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes," "Emily" and "Indian Summer." The first tune in that trio is a Latin-straight-ahead arranged track. "Emily" is also taken as originally presented—a swaying waltz. Bassist

Peter Marshall

bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Peter Marshall, with a fine solo, and drummer

Ron Wagner

percussion

" data-original-title="" title="">Ron Wagner keep things tasty. "Indian Summer" is a torrid swinger and the most intense of these three. The lovely samba "Know It All" is a joyous framework for Ross' bursts of delightful strings. Gaeta and Elster join the party with Marshall and Wagner similarly upbeat. This is a highlight track. "Says You" a

Sam Jones

bass, acoustic
1924 - 1981

" data-original-title="" title="">Sam Jones composition, is pure speedball bop with all stretching out before all alternating fours. Cuban composer Ernesto Leucona's "The Breeze and I" from his Suite Andalucia is usually performed at a much slower tempo than the lightning-fast effort performed here. Ross and all show max virtuosity in this frantically-paced closer.

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Track Listing

Delilah, Polkadots & Moonbeams, Jingles, Don the Working Man, Lolita; The Night Has a Thousand Eyes; Emily, Indian Summer, Know It All; East Lag; My Man's Gone Now; Say's You; The Breeze and I.

Personnel

Jimbo Ross

viola

Joe Gaeta

guitar

Stuart Elster

keyboards

Peter Marshall

bass

Ron Wagner

percussion

Album information

Title: Jazz Passion & Satin Latin | Year Released: 2024 | Record Label: Bodacious Records

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