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“Nitty Gritty” is guitarist Russ Spiegel’s seventh album, and although most of his earlier albums contain mostly originals, for this album Russ wrote only four compositions with everything else being covers done in ways that are different than the usual versions of the songs he selected. It is an eclectic album and in Russ’s own words, “ I chose tunes that feature my guitar playing in different genres and styles of jazz - from swinging, earthy blues to folk and Latin rhythms to groovy and outright rocky tunes”. Russ mentions some favorite influences on the guitar, including Pat Metheny, John Scofield, Ed Bickert and Bola Sete. Accompanying Russ on this adventure is his usual trio with Jim Gasior on organ and piano, and Lucas Apostoleris. Guests, Tim Armacost on tenor sax and Kurt Hengstebek on bass, play on about half the tracks.
So lets take a look at the variety that Russ has bestowed on us here. “Soul Station” is classic Hammond B3 driven soul jazz originally composed by Hank Mobley. On Ellington’s “Prelude to a Kiss”, Russ eschews the tune’s usual ballad treatment and instead gives it an upbeat samba drive. Hearing ‘Prelude’ in upbeat mode gives the well known song a different flavor altogether. Whereas the Beatles, “Norwegian Wood”, is usually given an up tempo 6/8 modal vamp, Spiegel instead keeps it in a relaxed folk style workout for the acoustic guitar. Original, “Nitty Gritty”, uses distorted guitar in a heavy funk jazz style similar to Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood.
For the second half of the CD Spiegel settles into more of a fusion style which supplies a little more cohesion after the ‘all over the place’ nature of the first half. “Deep Brooklyn” is one of the best tracks on the album with it’s melancholy melody and Gasior’s post bop ride on the acoustic piano. “Epic” is another ‘big’ sounding fusion number with a rocky 5/4 groove and plenty of heavy guitar soloing from Spiegel. “26-2”, another jazz rock number, gives plenty of room for Armacost’s tenor sax solo. There are more tracks but let’s avoid an exhausting grocery list here, but the real surprise is lounge classic, “A Man and a Woman”, which Russ plays without a trace of irony or kitsch.
