Produced by Philip Booth, Matt Swenson and Bryan Lewis.
Original compositions published by Big Guava Music/ASCAP (Booth) and You Goose Music/ASCAP (Lewis).
Recorded, mixed and mastered by John Stephan at the historic Springs Theatre in Sulphur Springs (Tampa), Florida. Jeremy Powell recorded in Brooklyn, NY.
Cover photo by Jay Nolan. Package design by Chase Booth.
Running time: 63 minutes
Copyright 2021 Solar Grooves
TRACKS—————————————————————————————————-
1) Sharkskin Suit (Booth/Lewis/Swenson) — 7:25
2) Watching the River Flow (Bob Dylan) — 6:21
3) Rumba Misterioso (Booth) — 7:37
4) Rumba Jam — 1:45
5) Springs Piano Interlude No. 1 — 2:16
6) Phil’s Blues Deluxe (Booth, horn section arr. Sam Fagaly) — 6:15
7) When October Goes (Barry Manilow, arr. Bryan Lewis) — 4:50
8) Springs Piano Interlude No. 2 — 2:50
9) Nature Boy (Eden Ahbez) — 7:41
10) Springs Piano Interlude No. 3 — 3:25
11) Mercy, Mercy, Mercy (Joe Zawinul, reharm. Bryan Lewis) — 6:22
12) Sharkskin Suit (radio edit) (Booth/Lewis/Swenson) — 6:03
MUSICIANS————————————————————————————————-
Matt Swenson, guitar
Bryan Lewis, Steinway grand piano (1,3,5-8,10,12), Hammond B3 organ (2,6-7,9,11) synthesizer (1,12)
Philip Booth, Double bass (2-11), Fender Precision fretless bass guitar (1,12), French horn (1,7,12)
Pat Close, drums (1,3-4,6) / Dave Reinhardt, drums (2,7,9,11) / Michael Washington, congas and percussion (1,3-4,7,9,12)
Jeremy Powell, tenor sax (9) / Christian Taylor Ryan, bari sax (9) / Peggy Morris, flute (3)
Imperial Polk Horns (6): Rick Runion, tenor sax; Christian Taylor Ryan, alto sax; Jen Peacock Ryan, trumpet; Alex Belliveau, trombone
LINER NOTES————————————————————————————————
A sharkskin suit — slick, sharp and shiny — makes a statement. To successfully wear one takes brio, as the wearer stands out. So it is with Acme Jazz Garage with Sharkskin, an album tailored to a tight-knit band's command of seriously entertaining and surprisingly varied music.
Sharkskin's iridescent, color-shifting quality is its essence: Jazz, blues, rumba, funk, standards, piano reflections and contemporary balladry are interwoven with accents including a hot vocal, romantic sax emerging from jammy organ-and-horn passages, and dance rhythms turning into fandangos. All spring from bonded personnel, who, with assists from a few pals, seem capable of anything.
Guitarist Matt Swenson, keyboardist Bryan Lewis and bassist/French hornist Philip Booth have honed the Garage's approach for a decade and here open it up. Abetted by regular drummer Pat Close, alternate drummer Dave Reinhardt, percussionist Michael Washington, Shelby Sol giving sardonic voice to a double-edged message, Jeremy Powell, Peggy Morris and Christian Taylor Ryan contributing on winds and reeds, plus the Imperial Polk Horns (saxophonists Rick Runion and Ryan, trumpeter Jen Peacock Ryan, trombonist Alex Belliveau, arranged by Sam Fagaly, a long-ago classmate of Booth's, now director of jazz studies at Eastern Illinois University), the core ensemble advances an ambitious mission.
Acme Jazz Garage's intent is to play together, realize collective ideas, and create fresh performances each time out. “Sharkskin Suit,” co-composed by Booth, Lewis and Swenson, demonstrates how commodious their concept is. Bryan's warm piano intro and mid-piece return, Matt's aching guitar line underscored by Philip's thrice-overdubbed horn and Bryan's synth, and well-defined, detailed rhythmic parts driven by Close, are entwined and unfold as a modern sonata.
The shuffle beat propelling "Watching the River Flow" belies the superficial passivity of Bob Dylan's words. Morris' flute adorns the Garage's misterioso interpretation of the Cuban rumba, after which Close and Washington drum. Bryan's piano interludes based on the chords of “Sharkskin Suit” are lovely standalones, sequenced to advance the program's narrative arc as another evocative facet. And dig how Bryan's lyricism is transformed when he turns to the Hammond B-3 organ! His organ and piano together enrich Barry Manilow's "When October Goes" (with Philip on upright bass and French horn, an instrument he set aside after high school but returned to in pandemic year 2020).
Booth thought to rumba-ize "Nature Boy," with guitar and bari sax delivering the melody, and a solo statement by former musical collaborator, now NYC tenorist Jeremy Powell (Eddie Palmieri, Jihye Lee Orchestra, Arturo O’Farrill Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra). "Mercy!" is the appropriate reaction to Bryan's reharmonization of the churchy motif made famous by Tampa native son Cannonball Adderley.
You may say that about all of Sharkskin — "Whoa, what and who is that?" Simply musicians you can trust, decked out in classy threads: Acme Jazz Garage.
— Howard Mandel, author of Future Jazz, editor, president, Jazz Journalists Association (JJA) ©2021