Contemporary Jazz
Jim Savitt - Review of "Hear & Now"
NightCast Records 

Sometimes the best music can be found on CD’s that aren’t released on major labels. A good example is the first full length CD from New York based guitarist Jim Savitt. As a follow up to Savitt’s 1998 Ep The Way Home Savitt really impressed me with his playing and compositions. Writing or co writing 11 out of the 12 tracks there are some various different styles that Savitt shows us on Hear & Now, but one consistent is I found the music pretty and melodic. Take "From The Heart." There is a little bit of a Spanish twinge to it coming from Savitt’s acoustic guitar (sounds like it could be nylon string) with some delicate licks by David Mann on sax adding just the right spice to it. Another track with a similar feel, but more up tempo is "What Could Be" which is a flamingo style piece. Savitt plays all the parts on this one. His guitar playing is top notch and his fingering is very clean which lends itself well to the acoustic guitar. "Looking Back" might be my favorite, but I’m not sure because I like quite a few of the tracks. Lanny Ward adds the right flavor of sax licks as a back up. It’s a moving mid tempo piece that you can really in vision a story from. I hear quite a few different other guitar players in Savitt’s playing. 

The press kit mentions Peter White and Marc Antoine. I hear some Craig Chaquico in him. In ‘Was It You" I hear Pat Metheny in both the color of the composition as well as the playing. Very cool! Other good songs include "SoHo," 'In The House" and "Awakening." The CD is worth checking out and Smooth Jazz radio should pay attention to this CD because there a lot of good tunes on this CD. If they don’t shame on them. Savitt studied at the Berklee School of Music and has a degree from Stevens Institute Of Technology where he was the musical director of their 17 piece jazz band.  Recently Savitt was commissioned to compose music for Any Channel, an interactive entertainment company developing a video game for a multi-players CD-ROM machine. His scores have been incorporated into their alien infested combat-action game plus The Endless Advantage, Inc. a music service provider regularly featured his compositions. You can hear some MP3's from this disc as well as purchase it from Savitt's web site www.jimsavitt.com

Ó ContemporaryJazz.com –  Reviewer - Jeff Charney
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