Isaac Darche Team
& Variations In the nearly ten years that guitarist Isaac Darche has called
New York home, the San Francisco Bay Area native has found opportunities to work
with many rising jazz stars and to pursue his own muse. He's emerged as a
rising star himself and is now following up on the 2012 release of his
well-received debut Boom-Baptism with Team & Variations, to be released by
the Dutch-based Challenge Records label on April 14.
Darche's fluid, warm-toned style reflects the classic
influence of Wes Montgomery and Pat Martino. But as indicated by the title of
the album's opening track, "A 'Winkel in Time" -- a nod to
influential guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel -- he is open to the innovations of all
kinds of stylists. "Pushing the boundaries musically yet keeping a certain
authentic 'jazz feeling' was very important to me on this project," says
the leader.
Darche's performances on the new CD with ace team members
Chad Lefkowitz-Brown on tenor saxophone, pianist Glenn Zaleski, bassist Desmond
White, and standout drummer E.J. Strickland confirm his status as one of the
most impressive young guitarists on the scene.
The playful titles of the originals are drawn from his life.
"Sloped Perspective," a wry reference to Brooklyn's Park Slope
community, where many jazz musicians live, strives for a combination of
simplicity and complexity. "Arts of a Bachelor," an experiment in
unusual intervals, reflects on his schooling. "Don't Run out of
Money," a double time-exercise with a melody that evolved out of guitar
voicings, is the ultimate advice for living in New York.
Fresh readings of the standards "You Stepped Out of a
Dream" and "Nobody Else But Me" are also in the mix, along with
his take on Wayne Shorter's "Ana Maria."
Born and raised in San Anselmo, California, just north of
San Francisco, Isaac Darche, 32, started playing the clarinet at age 7,
switched to the guitar at 10, and was also playing the saxophone a year or so
later. It was the sound of the guitar -- specifically the pure, beautiful jazz
sound of the Gibson L-5 models as played by Montgomery and Martino -- that
hooked him. He played in various groups at Marin Academy, a San Rafael high
school known for its strong arts program.
While attending the Stanford Jazz Workshop Jazz Camp as a
young teenager, Darche was blown away by a performance featuring fellow
students Ambrose Akinmusire, Jonathan Finlayson, Dayna Stephens, and Taylor
Eigsti. "I kept thinking, oh my God, I'm so far behind, this is
crazy," he recalls.
Isaac Darche He went
on to attend UCLA, studying with Billy Higgins, Anthony Wilson, and, primarily,
the distinguished guitarist and composer Kenny Burrell, whose groundbreaking
course on Duke Ellington was an essential part of the curriculum. Burrell was a
stickler for good tone, good phrasing, and swing feel. "He would stop us
and say, 'This is not swinging,'" said Darche. "But he was open to
all kinds of music."
Darche was encouraged to go to New York by guitarist and
"super sideman" Randy Napoleon. His "boom-baptism" there
was eased by all the great music happening around him. He got hired by
keyboardist Sean Wayland, and played with numerous other artists including Mark
Shim, Jon Gordon, Randy Ingram, Henry Cole, Linda Oh, and his old campmate
Ambrose Akinmusire.
"It's no easy accomplishment in a field packed with
guitarists," wrote David Adler in NYC Jazz Record of Boom-Baptism,
"but Darche has found a unique sound and technical approach on the
instrument. His tone is bright, his articulation blindingly fast and flawless,
his rhythm consistently in the pocket but full of breath, never stiff. ...
Effortlessly forward thinking, free of idiomatic clichés."
Isaac Darche brings the exciting music of Team &
Variations to Shapeshifter Lab, Brooklyn, NY on Wednesday 4/28 at 8:15 pm,
appearing with the same quintet as on the new CD.
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