Reviews from Greece
A new guitar stylist
“It is profound that guitarists who are at the state of starting their career may be under the influence of the great stylists such as Bill Frisell, Pat Metheny, John Scofield and John Abercrombie. Some of them find it hard to make the transition from imitation to creation. That’s why it is a pleasure to find out that a young man has already evolved his own style right with his first album. Scott Dubois formed his quintet about five years ago with saxophonists Loren Stillman and Jason Rigby, bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Mark Ferber. His debut’s great asset is the presence of Dave Liebman, one of the contemporary grand masters of soprano saxophone, who was Dubois’ teacher when he was studying at Manhattan School of Music. Apart from this helper contribution, “Monsoon’s” attraction is the compositional touch of Dubois as well as his original style mainly in classical guitar (the kind of guitar he uses in the larger part of the album) that combines the melodiousness of Django Reinhardt with John McLaughlin’s speed and Egberto Gismonti’s experimental mood. Most of the guitarist’s compositions step on unorthodox and asymmetric rhythms, while there are some clear references to Indian and eastern music, as the album title (“Monsoon”) states. Except for the inexhaustible David Liebman the two much younger than him saxophonists, who both recently released remarkable personal albums, sound in perfect form. “Monsoon” demands patience and repeated listening and preludes the arrival of a new stylist.”
- Apopsy Magazine, Vangelis Aragiannis