Abbasi, Rez / Snake Charmer
Album: Snake Charmer   Collection:Jazz
Artist:Abbasi, Rez   Added:Jan 2006
Label:Earth Sounds  

A-File Activity
Add Date: 2006-02-05 Pull Date: 2006-04-09 Charts: Jazz
Week Ending: Apr 2 Mar 12 Mar 5 Feb 12
Airplays: 1 2 1 2

Recent Airplay
1. May 13, 2011: No Cover, No Minimum
Snake Charmer
4. Mar 31, 2006: Memory Select
Tantra
2. Nov 13, 2009: No Cover, No Minimum
Pearl
5. Mar 10, 2006: Memory Select
Snake Charmer
3. Sep 05, 2006: Umami Jazz Program
Snake Charmer
6. Mar 10, 2006: No Cover, No Minimum
Snake Charmer

Album Review
Fo
Reviewed 2006-01-31
REZ ABBASI – “Snake Charmer”
Earth Sounds, 2005

MODERN JAZZ – NYC guitarist Abbasi digs into his Indian subcontinent roots on his 4th CD. Not that he’s ever strayed far: after music school in California and New York, he went to India to study the tabla! The core of this disc is a trio with Gary Versace on organ and Danny Weiss on drums. The seemingly omnipresent Dave Liebman turns up to add soprano sax on 2 & 6, and vocalist Kiran Ahluwalia adds flavor to 2, 4 & 8.

Fo’s Picks: I like it all, but 1, 2, 4 stand out

1. 8:01 – twisty intro, rhythmically complex with many tempo shifts, breakdowns. Guitar solo high and stumbling, organ solo a staccato zombie-walk.
2. 9:03 – for Daniel Pearl: relaxed and emotive with a strong Indian feel, tabla and floating vocal. Middle is edgy jazz w/ “sitar-guitar,” soprano sax gets raw.
3. 8:34 – chugging drive: unison guitar & organ, then each takes off with fluid lines.
4. 8:54 – street sounds, then gentle ruminations w/ sitar-guitar, tabla, organ, voice
5. 7:28 – similar to #1 rhythmically; solos more meandering. check out the intro!
6. 6:06 – slower and somewhat contemplative, with soprano sax & acoustic guitar
7. 6:09 – midtempo but propulsive, stair-climbing melody line, active drums
8. 1:58 – short tone poem for acoustic guitar & voice. Lots of space, rather sad.

[Fo] - 1/31/06

Track Listing
1. Snake Charmer   5. Kismet
2. Pearl   6. Rumi
3. Tantra   7. Blood Orange
4. Motherland   8. Thanks For Nothingness