Constantly seeking untapped musical terrain, New York-based guitarist and composer Oz Noy steps onto fertile ground with his new album, Snapdragon. The collection will be available this Friday, November 20th on all digital platforms and through his label Abstract Logix, pre-order link here.
Stream Looni Tooni here
View a sample of the entire album here.
All About Jazz raves about Oz, “It's fortunate then that what is (and always has been) immediately striking about his music is the sheer range of stylistic influences those amazing chops are tied to—and that they make a cohesive package at all. Many visages surface and assemble to complete Noy's distinct musical persona, including SRV bluesyness, JB funkiness and Monk-like harmonic subversiveness along with an updated Hendrix-like sonic experimentalism and a certain Zappa-esque nod-and-a-wink mischievousness.“
The spry rhythmic wallop that characterized his previous album, the backbeat-driven Booga Looga Loo, remains in full force -- only now welded to an open, bop-inflected chromaticism fostering a more dynamic, searching improvisational energy. Intricately winding unison melody lines spiral out across fatback rhythmscapes, expertly realized by an impressive cast of soloists and supporting musicians. Among those stoking the fires of the rhythm section are Dennis Chambers, Will Lee, Vinnie Colaiuta, Dave Weckl, James Genus, and John Patitiucci, while Noy trades improvised solos and notated melodies with saxophonist Chris Potter, keyboardists David Kikoski and Jason Lindner, trumpeter John Sneider, guitarist Adam Rogers, and Jazz Trumpet Virtuoso Wallace Rooney, in what is likely his final recording before succumbing to complications of the Coronavirus this spring. Rooney’s trumpet subtly blues-tinged solo glides over the nimble rhythmic modulations of “Outer Look.”
Noy’s signature vision, as both a player and composer, is the beating heart of Snapdragon. Journalist Adam Sieff shares via London Jazz News “What makes his playing and arranging stand out is his knack of adding an unexpected or edgy twist to a chord voicing or phrase that gives his playing its own distinct personality.” The themes include six original compositions, alongside a surprising, evocative reading of the Zombies’ “She’s Not There” and two Thelonious Monk pieces. Throughout, Noy’s playing is alternately tender and treacherous, moving from open-hearted, nearly vocal melodic statements to the sort of ferociously off-kilter, explosive soloing that has made him a favorite amongst connoisseurs of guitarists and improvised music at large. In Noy’s universe, odd intervallic leaps, unresolved dissonances, and radiating slabs of electric distortion are heightened and enlivened by nimble funk. The resulting sound is simultaneously accessible and refreshing -- an entirely modern refraction of the glorious tradition of greasy organ combos and gritty two-horn soul-jazz.
Snapdragon Tracklist - out November 20th
Looni Tooni
Tired But Wired
Outer Look
She’s Not There/ Boom Boo Boom
Snapdragon
Evidence
Groovin’ Grant
Bemsha Swing (Alternate Take)
