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Joe Martin
“Not By Chance”
www.joemartinbass.com

Bassist Joe Martin is both a name I was unfamiliar with and a player that I’ve heard possibly hundreds of times on various recordings. Having played with Avishai Cohen, Chris Potter (who appears here), Ben Monder, Larry Goldings the Mingus Big Band and many more (including Kurt Rosenwinkel’s “The Remedy” which is one of my favorite recordings of Kurt’s band. It was recorded live at the Village Vanguard).

This session featured Chris Potter, Brad Mehldau, Marcus Gilmore & Joe. This music and performance of such is, in a word, beautiful. To be clear, by “beautiful”, I do NOT mean sleepy, atmospheric and nice reading material, I simply mean this:

– the melodies are supremely interesting and really take you places

– the playing is truly masterful (as you might expect from this lineup)

– The songs are incredibly well composed and conceived
Masterful compositions + masterful performances

= Beautiful stuff!

This CD has actually become my new favorite jazz recording, to be honest. I just can’t believe how well these guys all play together and this music just MOVES. Very cool.. dig?