Jim Hagen - Jazzical (2017)

OFFICIAL:  http://www.jimhagenmusic.com
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/HagenJazz/

ITUNES: http://itunes.apple.com/album/id1229838302?ls=1&app=itunes

Artwork by John Lind Whitby

Written by Charles Hatton, posted by blog admin

Jim Hagen’s second album, Jazzical, follows up on his 2012 debut with the sort of obvious talent that sets him apart from the genre’s typical fare. Hagen opts for a diversified approach rather than hemming his style into a narrow jazz bracket and, while there are certainly a plethora of moments sure to make any jazz buff smile, there’s an apparent stylistic reach here going far beyond the genre’s usual purview. The album’s production is stellar and doesn’t stress one particular musical element at the expense of others. Instead, there’s a balanced approach to each of the album’s nine songs that allows each instrumentalist a chance to shine. The album is styled as a standalone collection but, also, as a tribute to Hagen’s deceased collaborator and friend vibes player Rod Bennett. Bennett, a superb musician featured on a handful of the album’s cuts, died as the result of a hit and run accident before Hagen had prepped this album for its eventual release. Despite this, it’s never a downbeat affair.

“Pismo Beach” clearly proves that. The first song on Jazzical has a laid back feel and some colorful, if not playful, exchanges between the different instruments. The three primary instruments making their presence felt on Jazzical are Hagen’s guitar, vibes, and keyboards, but they are engaged in a varied musical dialogue throughout the nine cuts. On this song, there a lot of brief exchanges between the players and, despite the song’s mid tempo pace, there’s a great deal of melody and depth in the playing. “Manha de Carnaval” is one of the album’s most memorable covers. The facility of the players to be able to pull off this standard, tapping into its Bossa Nova style without ever fumbling it, is a testament to their skills. “D-Tuna” is one of the album’s more evocative pieces thanks to the slowly developing arrangement and its understated atmospherics, but it pays appropriate homage to Hagen and the band’s jazz foundation without ever veering too far away from that base.

“On the Scene” highlights a different side of the album’s merits thanks to its melodic and fluid bass line, but Hagen and the other players contribute mightily to its overall quality. “All Blues”, a Miles Davis cover, rates as one of the best tracks on Jazzical thanks to its balance of maintaining fidelity to the original while still wringing enough changes from Davis’ version that it stands out from the pack. It sets a nice tone for the title track “Jazzical”. There’s some nice acoustic guitar, classically influenced, and other strands from the jazz side of the spectrum that weave quite nicely into its overall framework. “Piece of Cake” proves to be an ideal selection for the album’s penultimate number and has a playful edge missing from the album’s other eight tracks while “Lazy Sunday”, the album’s closer, sees Hagen’s guitar work regain a measure of prominence it lacks in the second half of Jazzical. This is a superb and varied collection that more than realizes the promise of Hagen’s debut while showing an emotional depth much deeper than we experienced before.