Believers Hard Believer

(Shifting Paradigm) ****

By  https://downbeat.com/site/author/michael-j.-west" rel="nofollow - Michael J. West   |   Published February 2025 

Veteran guitarist Brad Shepik has long gone without his propers. Hard Believer, the second album by his world-fusion Believers trio with electric bassist Sam Minaie and drummer/percussionist John Hadfield, should go a long way toward rectifying that. If nothing else, the sheer stylistic range the material evokes from Shepik and company is cause for celebration.

If I emphasize Shepik’s presence, it’s not because he’s Believers’ leader; Hard Believer’s warm, jazzy opening title track crystallizes this, putting the guitarist into accompaniment of Minaie’s lead lines. Hadfield is no sideman either, leading from the back on the angry glitch-rocker “Broken English” and the Persian-spiced reggae groove “Ranglin.” Shepik, though, on the New York jazz scene since the early ’90s, is the eldest and best known of the group (and an erstwhile employer of the other two in his Human Activity quintet): the one who has most earned the stardom that eludes him.

That’s even more true on Hard Believer. The nature of the instrumentation puts Shepik by default on the front line; even so, he is the spice in the Eastern funk “In The Weeds” (perhaps reminiscent of the Balkan sounds Shepik once explored with Dave Douglas and Jim Black in the Tiny Bell Trio), the chill in the Metheny-ish “Falling Grace” (where he also offers hints of Jerry Garcia in his single-note lines), the sting in the blistering “”Rocinante.” He is also the featured voice on “Corduroy,” a moody slow-burn with strong echoes of Radiohead. With Minaie and Hadfield providing a steady, heavy bulldozer roll, Shepik concocts glowing, often burning shapes like a low flame (with occasional leaping tongues). It’s a fusioneer’s performance, with a rock mien but a jazz-bred vocabulary, and while it’s enough to establish his mastery, the trio’s grim integration shows there’s enough brilliance to go around.

from https://downbeat.com