Produced by Joe Henry the genius behind Solomon Burke late-period classic Don't Give Up on Me (Anti, 2002) that had glorious versions of Van's 'Fast Train' and 'Only a Dream' on it among much else - Henry even namechecked by the Bishop of Soul in the course of the latter - 'Serenade' is when Speak To Me gets really interesting four tracks in. Dwelling on originals of the guitarist's, Lage, an icon of the music already (and he's only now 36) peruses in the bedrock of the personnel the kind-of-Peru azure textures found in the beat of Jorge Roeder and bespoke rattle and rumbling grooves of Dave King of The Bad Plus and Chris Speed Trio pedigree. Film and TV player Patrick Warren is on piano on a former track of the week in these pages - 'Omission' - a piece that simply flies given its fibrous acoustic guitar presence and homespun simplicity meticulously paced and strong depth in the sonic footprint.
A former child prodigy, championed by distinguished jazz author Ted Gioia early in Lage's career, the guitarist has been appearing on albums since he was a teen. Go back to vibes icon Gary Burton's Generations for instance and the jaunty Lage composition 'Early' released in 2004 to get a sense of what he was capable of 20 years ago writing and playing in a different idiom.
In the writing Speak to Me enters another dimension and is all about imagistic very American scene painting in the composition that involves disarmingly lush harmonic candour and is introspective in a turn-down-the-lamp rather than brooding sense on 'Myself Around You'. But on the title track aided by King's insistent pulse Lage even seems to process early rock 'n' roll in a nevertheless highly oblique manner that does not mean it doffs its hat to anything specifically in the manner of pastiche. Never fear he also wigs out on the track, a factor demanded of every guitar hero every so often no matter how cerebral they prove. You won't know the tunes because they will be new to all. Among the gems '76' has a dazzling harmonic set-up in the intro and a loose baggy beat to it - just one of the things that makes this fairly essential and among the best jazz releases so far in 2024. And don't forget to chug along to 'Northern Shuffle'. Even better than last year's release The Layers up there in recent years alongside View with a Room, Henry has gauged a new side to Lage that illuminates his many talents all over again and ignited a few new sparks enhanced by fine audio engineering. It's all made to measure. Out today.
Julian Lage, photo: Alysse Gafkjen. The Barbican presents Lage in concert with his band on 21 April
