For You

They Say...

Review by Michael G. Nastos, All Music Guide

Veteran guitarist Chris Flory, who considers the best jazz a basic sound in 4/4 time, has been involved in many swing-to-bop ensembles, concentrating on standards and the early period jazz influences that inform his playing. On For You, Flory has employed Mike LeDonne, who is playing the organ more often on recordings to very good results, making for an assumed soul-jazz date. But there's more than groove music here, including many strains of mainstream jazz, blues connotations, two ballads, and some interesting choices of tunes aside from American popular songs. Though the liner notes by the expert author Ira Gitler suggest many early period guitarists that weigh on Flory's style, the mixed single lines and chords of the soulful Grant Green also impact this music. On occasion tenor saxophonist Dan Block and trumpeter Jon-Erik Kellso add a modernist approach similar to what Art Blakey might add to his bands. It's a swinging affair, bookended by shuffle beats courtesy of the excellent drummer Chuck Riggs. The opener "J.H. Blues," with its disassociated tribute to Jimi Hendrix, sounds only a bit echoed, while the closer "Mister Goodbeat" is an obscure Jimmy Forrest tune with the horns leading and Flory quipping here and there. Dan Block is an exceptional player who sounds like he's working on some original expressionism, most prevalent on the cool bopper of Count Basie's "Swingin' at the Daisy Chain" and locked in with the full-toned trumpet of Kellso on this, the easygoing "A Beautiful Friendship" in two-note accents with LeDonne, and the best track of the date, the hard swinging fun tune "Bean-O" penned by Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis. There's a hot, feverish, and fast version of the lesser known Hank Jones tune "Vignette" that paraphrases both "Sweet Sue, Just You" and "I Wish I Knew" that shows Flory's quick witted mettle, while on the other end of the blue spectrum "I Want A Little Girl" has the leader in a most thoughtful, pensive, and yearning mood. Why Chris Flory is ranked not among the best jazz guitarists of his generation, based on these tracks, is unfathomable. Even more delightful are the Grant Green style midnight blue chords and lines heard in distinct clarity during the uncomplicated treatment of the Gershwin brothers evergreen "For You, For Me, For Evermore," or the slightly animated version of "Three Little Words," a simplistic song stretched out. This fine effort from Chris Flory and mates has to be one of the best straight-ahead jazz CDs of 2008, and deserves your attention, praise, and steadfast enjoyment.