Jeff Golub
is categorized in the
smooth jazz
genre because he's an instrumentalist; at heart, though, he's an
Eric Clapton
styled rockin'
blues
guitar player who, on
Out of the Blue
, finds himself stumbling happily into
Tower of Power
-like jam sessions. He pulls no punches from the start, rocking hard and furious with his distorted electric thrust darting around and over
Ricky Peterson
's brooding B-3 and a three-piece horn section on
"Wanna Funk?"
Same idea, south of the border style, on the similarly hard-hitting
Latin
hurricane
"Manteca,"
where
Golub
explores some improvisational territory in between sizzling solo sections by his longtime friend
Rick Braun
.
co-produced the album with keyboardist
Philippe Saisse
, whose comparatively laid-back style keeps
in the cool on more mid-tempo, easy to latch onto pieces like
"Indiana Moon"
; the guitarist gets more aggressive as the song progresses, but the hooky piano harmony line stays a constant.
Saisse
helps bring out
's completely meditative side on
"The Velvet Touch"
for about half the tune before the electricity rises once again. It's as if
just can't keep his virtuosity to himself, no matter how emotionally restrained the trappings.
"Groanin'"
is a unique departure which plays as though
got up one night in a straight-ahead
jazz
club and tried his hand (pretty convincingly, at that) at the
bebop
quartet thing. ~ Jonathan Widran