The Art Of The Blues by Bruce Arnold

The album title may not intimate that there are quite a few intricacies going on under-the-hood.  Essentially, venerable jazz guitarist Bruce Arnold reformulates and reengineers customary time signatures with manipulations of standard blues forms.  However, from a sky-view, it's an album that is nestled within progressive-jazz stylizations.  But Arnold's numerous slants and acute rhythmic permutations generate an irrefutable contrast to the norm.

Here, drummer Tony Moreno and bassist Dean Johnson provide more than just rhythmic support.  Indeed, they are vital contributors.  With scrappy interplay amid a fluent manner of soliciting call and response mechanisms, the trio surges forward, retool, and reconstruct the jazz-blues idiom with sinuously crafted departures.

Arnold is a fiery yet thoughtful soloist.  His compelling compositions are built upon fragmented swing vamps, soaring opuses and animated thematic developments.  In effect, the band rockets skyward, hovers back to a plateau, and morph sizzling dialogues into untraditional blues grooves.

Artist / Group Name: Bruce Arnold
CD Title: The Art Of The Blues
Genre: Progressive
Year Released: 2010
Musicians: Bruce Arnold (guitar), Tony Moreno (drums), Dean Johnson (bass)
Artist Website: brucearnold.com 
Rating: Five Stars

Full on: http://www.jazzreview.com/reviews/latest-cd-track-reviews/item/27679-the-art-of-the-blues-by-bruce-arnold.html