Sacramento-based guitarist and composer Ross Hammond is seemingly capable of making any kind of record he wants to make, and he will often make recordings based on whimsy; it’s an approach that’s served him well. His latest offering Roll Forward came about when he got together with three local friends. They rolled the tape and made music on the spot, relying on feel and trust in each other.
Hammond, who in the past has put forth some elaborately arranged opuses, knocked this one out with his buddies in less than three hours. On the other hand, this is the first album he’s made in recent years that involved more than two musicians, so it’s a return of sorts to Hammond leading an actual ensemble.
But Hammond didn’t return to anything necessarily conventional; this quartet has Hammond on guitar, Clifford Childers on trombone, Benwar Shepard on tuba and Devon Edmond on drums. It’s a little bit old timey in format, but hardly so in execution. The melodies tends toward contemporary folk and Shepard takes on the bass guitarist role with his tuba, while Childers often provide lead counterpoints that enrich Hammond’s simple figures. And Edmond is always there to propel the songs rhythmically forward, finding just the right beat called for like that funky pocket he creates for “Santa Cruz.”
“Clementines” starts off with Hammond alone with folk shadings but Edmond puts a groove underneath upon which Childers and Shepard gently ride, even when Childers later steps forward with trombone asides. And yet, it retain much of the peacefulness of Hammond’s solo or duets efforts.
It’s so casual, you can even hear the chatter as “The Block Is Awake” is finding its footing, which it quickly does. Hammond’s hypnotic riff sets the song on its way and the other three guys use insight and good grooving in augmenting it.
Hammond & Co. scratch that blues itch on “Easy Does It Blues,” and the guitarist lets the trombonist testify to it with feeling. The same happens on the blue-adjacent “Riverside” but with Hammond and Shepard more actively interacting with him.
Roll Forward is a mixture of jazz, folk, blues and jamming that sounds unique without even really trying to be. It’s just four dudes playing together for the enjoyment. Your enjoyment comes from feeling theirs.
Get Roll Forward now here, from Bandcamp.
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