333maxwell - Kiss You

Hear The Track Here

333maxwell is the bandname of one Chas Holman who lives in either a) LA or b) Hawaii or c) Zimbabwe ??. Answers on a postcard (or banknote if you REALLY want to win) to the usual address please. Must admit I was well pleased to make his acquaintance when I reviewed The Leads and Lags of Elevator (November 2007), a nice little jazz flavoured peice it was too. Some slight problems but hey, we all got a few of them. All in all, it was certainly a decent introduction to this musician who - it seems - plays anything, so long as it has strings. That's not a bad skill to have in this neck of the woods. Couple of interesting musical references cited too. Mario Lanza (who I was beginning to think was a figment of my mis-spent youth) and anyone who cites the Teletubbies as influences can't be all that bad.

Eh Oh.

Kiss You is a definite step away from the easy, smoothness of Leads and Lags, although still on a definite jazz groove. More jazzy rock than Free Jazz IMHO but hey, what's in a name? Kiss You, at least for this reviewer, cements the view that - given the genre - 333maxwell has much to offer the - dare I say this? - discerning listener. There is a degree of sophistication evident in both the performance and production that shows that this artist has plenty of room to grow and expand into, and I KNOW there is a growing and appreciative audience for this kind of free-ranging jazz. Main lead functions in this case being carried by a nicely raw sounding sax and a beautifully understated lead guitar.

More to the point, Kiss You is actually a song, and a very good song at that. In arrangement and style it probably has more to do with Chicago than the european idea of jazz, but once again this is a stylistic quibble. The only question that counts is how good it is, and listening will scratch that particular itch. What you might hear, despite the shudder whenever the word jazz enters the conversation, is an extremely likeable track that goes about its business with a briskness that can only come with lots of experience. Remember, everything you hear is from the mind, fingers, body and soul of one musician. That says everything there is to be said.

Highly Recommended Rock(y) jazz.