Search - Dom Minasi :: Quick Response

Killer inside-outside groove

greg taylor | Portland, Oregon United States | 06/11/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When listening to new CDs or artists, I tend not to read reviews or liner notes until I have listened to the CD a few times. I want to try to contextualize and evaluate what I am hearing before I let myself be influenced by the superior knowledge of practically everyone else in the world.

Sometimes I will find that the critics are right on the money(translation: we agree), frequently they remind me of something I should have known to begin with and sometimes the critics are just flat out stoopid.

Which leads me to Dom Minasi. If you were to go by the guys on All Music Guide, Minasi can barely play in tune, if he plays a tasty lick it is only because his fingers got tangled up, he dares to skronk on Ellington tunes, blah, blah, blah, ad stupideum.

Dom Minasi is a strange, unsettling and wonderful guitarist. He can tear out thoughtful single note runs at incredible speed (What Is This Thing Called Love), he can beautifully comp ballads behind his bandmates (When Your Dreams Come True) and he displays a very personal inside-outside approach.

Which may be part of why some critics don't like him. He likes to populate his CDs with standards (What Is This Thing.., I Who Have Nothing, and Softly As In Morning Sunrise) and his own compositions which often seemed to be based on standards. And then he has the temerity to play the standards however he feels like it. What Is This Thing.. and Softly... are played at breakneck pace with Minasi paying attention to the song's harmony only when it makes sense to what he wants to play. Personally I like it and it reminds me of this music called jazz where you are supposed to get to play what you feel in the moment.

Minasi also brings some powerful players to the table. His other CDs have featured the likes of Jackson Krall, Jay Rosen, Ken Filiano and Thomas Ulrich. This one has Mark Whitecage on it. Here Whitecage is playing in a mode unlike I have ever heard him play. His concept on his own CDs is much more outside than that of Minasi. Here Whitecage adapts and plays movingly on the ballads or soars soulfully on the burners. Again inside and out.

Kyle Kohler on organ and John Bolling on drums round out the quartet. The more I listen to this CD the more I like Kohler. He doesn't really sound like a lot of other organists but his knows his groove. As does Bolling who is always very prodding, very present and supportive.

So what else can I say? This one takes some repeated listening to because of the uniqueness of Minasi's concept. You may not be able to get enough from samples. You may just have to take a chance. I did based on trust in Mark Whitecage's musical ethic. I am glad I did."