Guitarist Jonathan Kreisberg offers up an intriguing ballad session with Night Songs, his third Criss Cross release since 2004's Nine Stories Wide. The mood is decidedly lush and spacious, and features truly unique takes on a range of familiar items as well as less played tunes such as Warm Valley and Nefertiti. The disc features his current trio with bassist Matt Penman and drummer Mark Ferber, and adds pianist Gary Versace for some quartet cuts as well as a haunting duo version of Laura.
Jonathan Kreisberg's second outing for Criss Cross features the versatile guitarist's working organ trio with Gary Versace at the Hammond B3 and Mark Ferber on drums. The forward looking group demonstrates it's considerable knowledge of the jazz tradition while subtly stretching melody, harmony, rhythm and texture to push the music into the future. The date delivers fresh, inspired interpretations of three Great American Songbook classics along with Thelonious Monk's "Ask Me Now" and four impressive originals, that demonstrate the leader's prowess as a composer of intelligent songs that swing in a new direction.
Joined by New York A-list Larry Grenadier and Bill Stewart, young guitar virtuoso Jonathan Kreisberg offers an impressive leader debut. Equally comfortable with bebop (Charlie Parker's "Relaxing at Camarillo"), the American song book ("Summertime," "My Ideal" and "Just in Time"), Jazz Modernism (Wayne Shorter's "JuJu") and Pop ("Michelle"), Kreisberg's instrumental voice is zestful, reflective and warm - every solo states a considered point of view.
