Scott Jeppesen
El Guapo
Creative Bottle Music
*** 1/2
Who is El Guapo? Is it saxophonist Scott Jeppesen? Is it one of
the five other LA-affiliated musicians on this album? Whoever he is, based
on the tune named after him, he sounds vibrant, light on his feet and
guitarist Larry Koonse is definitely a good friend of his. But it can be
misleading to trust someone who answers to such a name.
Is this music handsome? Yes. The band is quite polished,
sometimes too polished and occasionally the music drifts into
a synthetic smoothness that is not always welcome. The album stays
grounded thanks to Jeppesen's earnest playing and creative writing but
the occasional jolting blemish would be nice.
Jeppesen's version of Richie Beirach's "Elm" is
eerily similar to the original 1979 recording. The two tracks can be
played simultaneously and line up almost perfectly. It would've been a
more interesting statement if Jeppesen had played over the original instead of
enlisting his band to recreate it. Nonetheless, he gently flutters over
Koonse's nimble support with dreamy results. Producer John Daversa steps out
with his trumpet on two tracks including Jeppesen's "Great Odin's
Raven" where he trails the saxophonist a few steps on the prodding melody
before Jeppesen, pianist Josh Nelson and Daversa make driving statements of
their own.
The album is mostly comprised of Jeppesen's compositions.
“I Tend To Agree” pits Nelson’s keyboards against Schnelle’s bumping solo while
Jeppesen switches to soprano saxophone for "No Drama," a
seductive platform for bassist Dave Robaire's swaying solo.
Scott Jeppesen @ DownBeat
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