By: Vince Lewis
Lou Volpe has an outstanding professional resume. He has appeared as a sideman with many great jazz and pop artists. A partial list includes Herbie Hancock, Chet Baker, Herbie Mann, Peggy Lee and the Manhattan Transfer. Volpe was a student of Sal Salvador and spent quite a bit of time in jam sessions with Les Paul.
Here and Now recording is largely original material. Titles include “Astral Island,” “Hear and Now,” “Live Wires” and “Blue Boppa.” “Prince Charming” is a straight-ahead shuffle blues and there is a nice Latin treatment of the classic jazz standard “Softly As In A Morning Sunrise.”
Volpe has a strong blues influence present in his phrasing. His tone is the very traditional and contains a familiar big and round hollow-body sound. His phrasing changes from ultra funky to be bop as the tune dictates. His single-note lines are well crafted and executed.
The surrounding cast on this recording is comprised of veteran jazz players. Onaje Allan Gumbs (piano), Bob Cranshaw (bass) and Buddy Williams (drums) provide the perfect backing for Volpe’s guitar work.
Fans of both Mainstream and Smooth Jazz should enjoy this effort by Volpe and company. There are enough different grooves here to appeal to each type of listener. Volpe has been around the Jazz Guitar scene for quite a while, and it’s a pleasure to see a new recording with him as the bandleader.
Maybe because I was raised around a family full of musicians, and many of them playing the guitar, I’m attracted to guitar based music, even though my own skills are minimal. I love the sound and the abilities and capabilities of each musician, and I appreciate a lot of it.
Perhaps this is why upon hearing Hear And Now by Lou Volpe, I hear a sense of home or a homecoming. No, Volpe doesn’t have (to my knowledge) any roots in Hawai’i, but I mean music that sounds like the comforts of home, in that he sounds comfortable in what and how he plays. Volpe has done session work and has played live with many musicians in his career, and this is just an additional thread in the fabric of sounds he has shared with the world.
Volpe may play jazz but he’s not limited to just jazz, nor is he a jazz purist like some musicians make themselves to be. On this album, he plays the hell out of his guitar but it’s not a blitzkrieg or anything. It’s just someone who loves to play and does so with incredible skill.
It goes back to some of the jazz guitarists of the 1960′s like Wes Montgomery and Pat Martino where the beauty in what he plays is, well, what he plays. I love the phrasing on this and how it feels like a casual conversation to whomever is willing to listen. This is the kind of jazz I could listen to all day, and the kind of jazz that may make your Sunday mornings even better.
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