Review: Organic – All About Jazz

The Acoustic Jazz Quartet: ORGANIC

by C. Michael Bailey, All About Jazz

“Organic Unity” the approximate center point of the Acoustic Jazz Quartet’s new recording Organic, fairly well sums up in an aural sense the constantly evolving vision of this fine West Coast quartet. This slightly Bossa piece shows exactly how far an already superb quartet has come since its previous release, Acoustic Jazz Quartet (Naxos Jazz 86033, 1999) and David Sill’s previous offerings Journey Together (Naxos Jazz 86023, 1999) and Bigs (Naxos Jazz 86070, 2001). The band’s music is seamless as smoke and aromatic as the complex bouquet of the Far East, a great but subtle influence on the band.

Again guitarist Jamie Findlay and saxophonist David Sills weave a sumptuous silken web of brilliant contemporary jazz. The sound is very easy-going, starting with the skipping “J & L” and proceeding through original ballads such as “Darkness Upon the Earth” and “Bahji.” Sills and the band reprise his composition “Bigs,” providing a more revealing rendition than the original recording. Sills turns introspective on his circuitous composition. The songs tend to be lengthy, five minutes of more, offering intelligent development and consonance to occur.

Organic is the perfect follow-up to the band’s original release. This is an airtight ensemble making rarified music. Highly Recommended.