Like many titles released in 2021,
Dan Siegel's
Faraway Place is a product of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was conceived and recorded mostly in isolation by a stellar cadre of musicians: drummers
Vinnie Colaiuta,
Steve Gadd, and
Omari Williams, saxophonist
Eric Marienthal, trumpeter/trombonist
Lee Thornburg, guitarist
Allen Hinds, acoustic bassist
Brian Bromberg, electric bassists
Abraham Laboriel and Dwayne "Smitty" Smith, and percussionist
Lenny Castro. Brazilian vocalist
Rogerio Jardim also appears on two tracks.
Siegel composed the music in isolation and attended two socially distanced sessions in a Los Angeles studio with
Gadd and
Colaiuta. He sent the finished rhythm tracks with piano demos to his cast and had them add their parts, then added finished piano, accordion, organ, and other keyboards to frame these 11 short to mid-length jazz tunes, offered in a variety of styles.
"Old School" commences with a funky soul-jazz vamp à la the Cadet era
Ramsey Lewis Trio, appended by
Castro's bubbling congas around the piano and grooving horns with a chart as fine as
Lee Morgan's "Sidewinder."
Siegel layers a B-3 organ under his meaty piano fills and accents before
Hinds adds funky wah-wah guitar atop
Bromberg's bassline as the jam begins to cook. "Sentimental Story" is a midtempo ballad framed by
Castro's fluid percussion and
Gadd's intricate brushwork.
Hinds' chord voicings and
Bromberg's resonant bassline allow
Siegel to explore a melody that nods to the influence of
Vince Guaraldi. "Tried and True" commences with a slippery, funky piano groove but quickly evolves as the horn section, bassline, and lead guitar lines build a groove recalling
Gaucho-period
Steely Dan. "Something You Said" is the first of four tunes to feature
Siegel's accordion playing. Here it whispers under the shimmering piano that crisscrosses folk and pop lyricism as
Hinds and the rhythm section dance around them.
Siegel's solo expands the tune into post-bop territory. "Curves Ahead" with
Williams on drums and Smith on electric bass, weds the vintage soul-jazz to Latin and contemporary jazz with a smoking electric piano solo and wafting organ. The brief "Your Smile" weds a classical chamber piece with Baroque overtones to samba. Only two-minutes long, it features
Jardim's airy, wordless vocals atop piano, upright bass, bassoon, English horn, and viola.
Hinds' pulsing wah-wah guitar and
Laboriel's simmering electric bassline underscore the prog rock-cum-contemporary jazz groove that colors "Looking Up."
Colaiuta's rolling breaks and accents frame
Siegel's crystalline chords and canny right-hand fills before he delivers a downright funky solo. Closer "Once Again," offers stylish contemporary post-bop with just the hint of a Latin tinge as
Siegel walks the line between swing and soul and
Bromberg digs deep into wood to extract the groove with the elegant syncopation of
Colaiuta.
Faraway Place stands with
Siegel's best work for its complex yet utterly accessible approach to rhythmic interplay and kaleidoscopic harmonic invention, all rendered in relatively brief but beautifully arranged compositions. ~ Thom Jurek