You know these rain-slicked streets, these shadow-shrouded
alleyways, all-night diners streaked by flickering neon and basement bars hazy
with cumulous clouds of exhaled smoke. Close your eyes and you can hear the
plaintive saxophone, the insinuating bass line, the brushes caressing the snare
drum as a jazz combo supplies the score for a harrowing journey into the dark
urban underbelly. For Indiana guitarist Brent Laidler, the voluptuous imagery
and convoluted plotlines of film noir served as a seductive muse, inspiring the
sensuously cinematic concept album No Matter Where Noir. Scheduled for
Spring/Summer 2017 release, the album delivers a lyrically charged sojourn into
a realm populated by femmes fatales, tough guy private eyes and shady
characters looking for an edge.
Featuring a septet made up of some of the finest players in
the Indianapolis area, Laidler’s band interprets his finely wrought tunes with
poise and swinging authority. Possessing an enviably warm and pliable tone, the
guitarist says the album’s storyline flowed out of a rueful noir ballad that
became the project’s title track.
Laidler isn’t writing programmatic material. Each song
stands confidently on its own. But there’s an irrepressible narrative flow,
from the joint-is-jumping swing of “Jamie’s Joynt” and the Blue Note swagger of
“Sixth Sense” (a fedora hat tip to the great Lee Morgan) to the suave, killer
groove of “Heavy Memphis Jones” (with the sly quote from “Have You Met Miss
Jones”) and the existential kiss off “Keep Me In Mind.”
Part of what gives the ensemble its distinctive sound is
Mitch Shiner’s vibes, which adds a bright timbre on unison lines with the
horns. Ned Boyd’s cool-toned alto, lithe, sinewy and rhythmically supple,
blends beautifully with Mark Buselli’s burnished trumpet and flugelhorn.
Propelled by the crisp rhythm section featuring ace bassist Scott Pazera,
top-shelf pianist Jamie Newman, and either Richard “Sleepy” Floyd or Kenny
Phelps on drums, Laidler’s band brings just the right emotional pitch to the
noir material, deadly serious and seriously playful!
Always game for new musical adventures, Laidler takes a
thrilling trip down a dark alley with No Matter Where Noir, an album that makes
an incontrovertible case for the enduring allure of the dark side.
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