Running Out of Time

Jazz violin from Samuel "SavoirFaire" Williams. Nice stuff that sifts mainstream jazz through a few different filters, including breezy ear-pleasing stuff (4), dance/hip-hop influences (8), and even some short sonic experiments (2).

He's got great chops and tosses out some gutsy solos, but doesn't let his classical side out until track 10. And ... maybe it's my unappreciative tin ear, but he frequently sounds flat. Good stuff overall, though, with a more than capable band.

Interesting contrast to Zach Brock, another violinist with creating leanings (and whose CD departed the A-file as SavoirFaire arrived). Brock creates his sound through a "guitar hero" approach. SavoirFaire is flashy, too, but in a more mature sounding way. That is -- while Brock seems to be trying to push jazz to a rock audience, SavoirFaire is working within the jazz camp, trying to wring new possibilities from the form.

1- Quick-footed, light. Breezy contemporary-jazz sound.
2- Insect buzzes overdubbed. An experimental snippet.
3- Fast, a bit funky, with some speedy soloing
4- Breezy and mid/fast, happy.
5- Swaying mid/fast
6- A bit avant-garde: Grinding guitar tones and scribbly violin
7- Short interlude; lots of distortion and feedback
8- Trip-hop leanings
9- Soft, romantic
10- Classical flutterings, a fast moody unaccompanied solo