Jesse Van Ruller Views CD - Import

It's been ten years now since Jesse Van Ruller won the Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition (the first European artist to do so), and yet audiences have yet to fully appreciate his immense talents. On his third Criss Cross date, Van Ruller really comes into

Jesse Van Ruller: Jesse Van Ruller; Sam Yahel (Hammond b-3 organ); Bill Stewart (drums); Seamus Blake.
Personnel: Jesse Van Ruller (guitar); Seamus Blake (tenor saxophone).
Liner Note Author: C. Andrew Hovan.
Recording information: Systems Two Studios, Brooklyn, NY (10/19/2005).
Photographer: Govert Driessen.
Jesse Van Ruller's ninth recording as a leader finds him sharing the front line with tenor saxophonist Seamus Blake and fronting a rhythm section that includes Hammond organist Sam Yahel (of Joshua Redman's Elastic Band) and drummer Bill Stewart. It's a configuration that would lead you naturally to expect a certain funkiness, and you do get some of that on this all-original program: "Super Dry" combines a finger-snapping rhythmic groove with a complex harmonic structure, creating an effect that sounds almost like a cross between James Brown and Thelonious Monk. There are some exhilaratingly bop-derived moments as well, especially on the zippy "Sway" and the joyfully headlong "Silk Rush." But some of the most impressive cuts on this disc are the ballads: a lovely piece called "Sway" (on which Yahel makes particularly tasteful use of the volume pedal) and the equally fine "Tear Jam," on which Van Ruller's guitar is accompanied only by the organ and drums. There's a nice blues composition as well and a midtempo number in 5/4 that sounds a bit like a waltz with a sprained ankle. Very nice overall. ~ Rick Anderson