BOSTON — Jazz mandolinist Simon Dunson has announced the December 22 release of his project of all original compositions entitled Chicken Bridge. He holds the distinction of being the first mandolin player admitted into the Jazz Department at the New England Conservatory where he graduates this December.
About the recording, Dunson told us: "It's all live takes of original music played in a quartet with bass, drums and electric guitar with me running through a Girouard with a humbucking pickup. The music draws inspiration from people like Bill Frisell, John Scofield, Grant Green, The MG's and all sorts of stuff.
"Over the last few years I had been putting a lot of thought into what my 'dream band' would be and I settled on a quartet with upright bass, electric guitar and drums. This gave me a lot of inspiration and steered my writing in a productive direction as I wanted to try to really highlight the strengths of all of the instruments in the band. Eventually I met Charlie Garnett (who played guitar on the album) and things just instantly clicked. He was the guitarist I had been looking for. Soon after I met Kurt Stracener (Drums) through Charlie. Kurt is really a rare drummer to play with as he can play with such energy even at very low volumes. Matt Laird (Bass) was the final addition. Matt is such an amazing person to work with as he consistently makes such inspiring choices in his playing to keep the band sounding great! In a lot of ways it all happened so quickly. I just happened to have written lots of music through the pandemic. I stumbled across these guys that were so fun to play with and I am so thankful that they put so much time and effort into learning my music."
Track Listing
- Sydney
- Always Always
- Dollar Shrimp
- Bumble Bee
- Gym Class
- 53
- Lullaby
Listen
From the recording, the track "Dollar Shrimp."
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