If you are a fan of the Blue Note sound of the 50s/60s and dig a little Hammond and Latin Jazz, then do not miss this excellent album.
Aleph Aguiar Records AAR001CD / ECN Music
Aleph Aguiar (guitar); Liam Dunachie (organ); Quentin Collins (trumpet); Will Fry (percussion); Shane Forbes (drums)
Recorded 30& 31May, 2023
A new name to me, Venezuelan born guitarist Aleph Aguiar has certainly paid his dues having worked as a session musician both in his home country and the UK. He was the guitarist for the West End show On Your Feet and travelled around the country with the musical Hairspray. Aguiar also has strong ties with the contemporary dance world as both his mother and wife are dancers, and this feeling for dance come through in his own compositions.
The guitarist has previously recorded two albums as leader with the Afro-Venezuelan inspired jazz albums Pataruco (2015) and Maku released two years later, but with his new album presents a swinging Latin jazz recording that harks back to the modern jazz of the 1950s and 1960s capturing the sound and feel of that classic period for small group music with a real authority and passion.
In doing so. Aguiar has formed a quintet of some of the finest UK musicians and over two days the five musicians laid down the tracks that make up this hugely enjoyable set. Not wishing to rely on tried and tested material, Aguiar has penned all the music himself. A brave move that works incredibly well as his writing and arranging for the quintet capture that sense of hearing something new but also has a comforting feeling of familiarity.
The instrumentation is spot on, Dunachie’s feel on the Hammond organ is right on the money and his bass lines swing effortlessly. While the the rhythm team of Will Fry and Shane Forbes provide and supple yet driving foundation to the music that is packed with detail. With such support, trumpeter Quentin Collins dare not put a foot wrong, and of course he doesn’t; the ensemble passages with the guitarist are made to sound ridiculously easy and it is impossible to pick one of his solos over another.
Of the guitarist himself, Aguiar proves himself to be a superb soloist with his ideas given to time to evolve and never sounding hurried. He also has an exceptional ear for writing intricate yet infectious compositions, and is equally adept at sequencing them to present a balanced and varied set from the boogaloo of the title track (‘Sugar on my Blackbeans’ being a reference to the Venezuelan tradition of topping the South American dish with sugar) and the funky opener ‘Panspernia’. ‘Reflected Three’ also has a nice, relaxed groove that yields some excellent solos from Aguiar and Quentin Collins.
The quintet takes their foot off the gas for ‘Little Daisy’ and ‘One for Sorrow, Two for Joy’ which gives us all time to catch our breath and gives shape and form to the album as a whole. If you are a fan of the Blue Note sound of the 50s/60s and dig a little Hammond and Latin Jazz, then do not miss this excellent album.
