L.A-based Jake Reed has a pretty good gig being the drummer for the jazz combo TrioKAIT and doing session work in that music hotspot, but that doesn’t mean he’s not ever going to stray out of that comfort zone. Reed Between The Lines is his first time out as a leader, showing sides as a musician and composer we hadn’t previously heard on Kait Dunton’s TrioKAIT records.
Egged on by Dunton, his wife, Reed decided to hold nothing back in undertaking this project. He filled the record with his own songs, except for one. He brought in many of his esteemed peers from the esteemed cadre of LA studio hands, such as David Piltch, Rich Hinman and Andrew Synowiec. He enlisted a couple of globally-known names like Larry Goldings and Bruce Forman. And of course, Dunton is on board for several tracks. These aces and more back him in presenting diversity of styles within the jazz realm, but he roughly divided the record into a rock-jazz side and a traditional jazz side in a trio featuring guitarist Forman and acoustic bassist Edwin Livingston.
So, there’s a bit of ying and a yang thing going for Reed Between The Lines and nowhere that is more explicit than on Reed’s soul-blues number “Welcome Home.” There’s one version recorded with that straight-ahead trio, and Forman’s licks are for sure tasty, but also, Reed’s swing is on the mark and his solo is like a series of nice little fills. Another version of this song is played with Dunton on Rhodes and Cooper Appelt on electric bass and Synowiec on guitar…TrioKAIT plus one. Reed’s swing turns into a funky strut even though the tempo and time signature is the same, and Synowiec’s rock-jazz guitar jargon is also tasty but tasty more like John Scofield instead of Kenny Burrell.
“AM/FM” is that song with organist Goldings and it’s a bonafide crunchy rocker that provides Reed the chance to lay down a Led Zeppelin stomp, with Synowiec providing the metal sheen. “1985 World Champions” is arranged like a theme song to a TV crime series circa, well, 1985. Reed supplements his drum with a drum machine and Dunton piles on the synths. “Present Tense” undertakes a similar strategy, but the eighties-ness is toned down, and is notable for Reed’s marimba and percussion that gives the song a mild ethnic fusion taste.
“Shenandoah” stands in the middle of the record, belonging to neither of those two ‘sides,’ but it’s a super choice to cover because its majestic melody is like an open canvas that makes it easy for artists to leave their own mark. Reed’s military march is the right match for Walter Simonsen’s stately horn arrangements.
“Elfin Around” is a lazy stroll that highlights Reed’s brush and kick drum action, then he turns up the burners for “Boobam Boo (Pup Pup)” where he, Forman and Livingston form a very together swinging groove unit and Reed cuts loose on his solo turn. Even these tried-and-true guitar trio settings don’t stop Reed from being inventive; check out his tumbling toms at the head of “Sneakin’ On Out,” and his Joe Morello-like economy during his mid-song feature.
The people around Jake Reed knew that there isn’t much as a drummer and composer he couldn’t do and do well. With his solid debut Reed Between The Lines, now the rest of the world knows this, too.
Reed Between The Lines is now available, from Real & Imagined Music.
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