Artwork
by John Lind Whitby
Written
by Robert Elgin, posted by blog admin
The
story of Jim Hagen’s album Jazzical isn’t one of mere virtuosity alone. Make no
mistake – Hagen and his collaborators have a lot of musical talent to burn and
could put on a jazz clinic at will. The story of Jazzical, instead, is much
more about love and fidelity. There’s obviously been great care taken by the
musicians to nail these performers precisely without ever draining them of
their life and robbing them of their ability to breathe. Hagen and his creative
partners are obvious students of the form – some might call this music smooth
jazz and they certainly would have it at least partially right, but the label
is a bit of a misnomer. Jazzical, at its heart, is a purist’s exercise further
enlivened by an unexpected and artful pop sense that never cheapens the
material. The nine song collection is utterly steeped in traditional jazz, but
it is never inaccessible to casual fans.
There’s
a wonderfully understated luxuriousness surrounding the opening track and first
single “Pismo Beach”. Hagen’s compositions have an abundance of melody, but
another key component of their success is the ear-catching outside the box changes
that popular music devotees will find quite entertaining. “Manna de Carnaval”
has a loose Latin feel, but the main attraction here is listening to Hagen’s
guitar exchange inventive lines with the keyboardist. Everything is tempered in
just the right way – they create a definite mood without ever lapsing into
showy pyrotechnics. Hagen takes on a bit of a departure with the next song “D-Tuna”.
This has a little more of a nebulous approach at first before definite melodic
lines emerge from the mix. The jangling guitars take it very close to rock/pop
music territory in a way that few other songs do on Jazzical.
The
mood darkens some with the meditative “Alexandra”, but Hagen and his musical
partners never lose sight of their obligation to lay down a good melody for
their listeners. The title “All Blues” might create an impression that Hagen’s
track abandons his established style in favor of an outright foray into the
blues genre. There are some strong bluesy influences running through this,
particularly in its changes, but Hagen retains the same sound here that defines
much of the material on Jazzical. The album’s title cut shows his willingness
to take chances and mix other sounds into his personal stew – the introduction
of classical elements into his jazz aesthetic gives this performance qualities
the others lack and seems quite appropriate for the album’s centerpiece number.
The penultimate number on Jazzical has a distinctly more upbeat, jovial mood
with the song “Piece of Cake” but, as always, tastefulness rules the day and
Hagen is carefully to orchestrate this number with just the right amount of
force. This is as fine of an effort as you’ll hear in contemporary jazz and
shows both fidelity to the form while still being unafraid to redefine it for
the artist’s own personal use.
Grade:
A
