Oz Noy is widely regarded as an ace fusion jazz guitarist, but those who dig deeper into his work know he’s just an ace guitarist period, without the qualifier.
More than a decade ago I took delight in sizing up an excellent album by an all-star straight-ahead quartet that included Noy called BANN, where Noy not only sounded comfortable playing post-bop, it seemed as if that it is first love.
That love got rekindled lately when lockdown kept New York musicians homebound. The restless Noy decided to keep playing by getting together with his neighbors drummer Ray Marchica (Ed Palermo Big Band, The Birdland Big Band) and upright bassist Ugonna Okegwo (Jacky Terresson, Tom Harrell) for some impromptu outdoor jam sessions at Riverside Park on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
Out of those jams came the need to capture the spark they created so the three headed into a recording studio and knocked out snappy renditions of eight jazz standards and a couple of originals. Their just-released album Riverside, is the result of those sessions, and perhaps only the beginning of a happy collaboration that came out of an unhappy circumstance.
In the video we’re premiering above, the Riverside Trio is captured taping their fresh take on Kern & Hammerstein’s “All The Things You Are.” Noy plays an effortless combination of rhythm and lead, honoring the sweet melody and not smothering it. He leaves plenty of room for the Okegwo/Marchica unit to swing satisfyingly and the two get their own smooth asides in as well.
Riverside is out today, from Outside In Music.
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