Julian Lage – Scenes From Above
Guitarist Julian Lage releases his fifth album for Blue Note Records, “Scenes From Above”, on January 23rd. After “Squint” (2021) with Jorge Roeder and Dave King, “Room With A View” (2022) with additional guitar from Bill Frisell, his solo album “The Layers” (2023), and “Speak To Me” (2024) with an extended band that featured Kris Davis on piano and Patrick Warren on various keys, among other guests, he now has a new band surrounding and abetting his nine compositions: John Medeski on organ and piano, Jorge Roeder again on bass, and Kenny Wollesen on drums. Kenny has played on albums by John Scofield, Bill Frisell, and John Zorn, among many others and he’s also an in-demand drummer backing vocalists such as Norah Jones, Rebecca Martin, Rickie Lee Jones, Madeleine Peyroux, or Kate McGarry. And he played on earlier albums by Julian which came out on Mack Avenue Records.
Anyway, there have been legendary guitar/organ combinations before, most notably on various 60s Blue Note albums by Grant Green and Big John Patton or Jimmy Smith and Kenny Burrell, to name just a few, but this here is anything like those classic collaborations. In fact, probably the only tune which maybe comes close to those classics, is the elegantly grooving, a bit down and dirty “Talking Drum”. The album actually opens with two pieces which are dripping with folk elements as well as some serious jazz, if there’s anything like that. “Opal” and “Red Elm” are both wonderful vehicles for telling stories of wide open spaces and lengthy travels and travails, with the latter also boasting with some heavy swing too. Beautiful stuff. Julian’s guitar, crisp and clear, at home with jazz and blues and pop and rock and folk and country and alternative and what have you, is not really the center and the beacon on this album, but rather one more piece of the overall pretty dense and thick group sound. “Havens” is a good example of that particular group effort. It’s a rolling and shuffling, enjoyable and riveting piece.
I especially dig the slower numbers, like “Night Shade”, the longest track on the album which has this sweet and somehow desperate Americana feel to it, with John’s organ playing so intense as if he’s talking to you. With Julian’s presence here, in elongated notes and phrases, with blues licks thrown in and thus, creating this somewhat serene atmosphere which turns loose during the last minute or so, the piece somehow turns into this inspirational sparkle. “Solid Air” has twang and excitement, some sort of daftness as well with the more experimenting organ sounds and “Ocala” returns to some really beautiful, country-ish authority with cooly swinging drums and focussed organ work which sounds truly amazing on this particular piece. After a pleasantly disturbing and free “Storyville”, the album concludes with a very complacent “Something More”. It has this aura again of a wide openness, of a winged brilliance which encompasses this highly satisfying set. Also out on vinyl!
So far, Julian has a few select live dates planned in Europe:
5/07 Berlin – Huxley’s
5/09 Utrecht – TivoliVredenburg
5/10 Liège – Jazz à Liège
5/11 Cologne – Die Kantine
5/13 Eindhoven -Muziekgebouw
5/15 London – Royal Festival Hall
