Sounding Point
Sounding Point is the debut studio album by the then 21-year-old jazz guitarist Julian Lage.[1] It was released in March 2009 by EmArcy Records. It entered the Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart at number 13 and was nominated for the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album. Reviews of the album were generally positive; one reviewer found the recording inferior to Lage's live performances.
Sounding Point
March 24, 2009
May 11, 2008 and June 15–16, 2008
Legacy Studios, New York City
56:20
Various ensembles[edit]
Lage performs two solo tracks on the release, the remainder of the album consists of pieces played by three separate combos. There are two duets, "Tour One"[3] and "All Blues", with pianist Taylor Eigsti[8] and three all-string bluegrass inspired numbers, "The Informant", "Long Day, Short Night", and "Alameda", with Chris Thile on mandolin and Béla Fleck on banjo.[3] The remaining six tracks are played by some combination of Lage's touring band; saxophonist Ben Roseth, cellist Aristides Rivas, bassist Jorge Roeder, and percussionist Tupac Mantilla.[8] There are no trap drums on the recording, Mantilla plays cajón, djembe, frame drums and cymbals.[9]
Selected tracks[edit]
The album's opening track, "Clarity" was written by Lage when he was 15 years old for Gary Burton's album Next Generation. It was rewritten for this release to feature the cello playing of Aristides Rivas.[10] "All Purpose Beginning" is about writing a letter to a friend. It starts with the sound of a pencil writing on paper.[10] The album's closing track, "All Blues" is a cover of the Miles Davis composition.[11] There are two other covers, Elliott Smith's "Alameda" and Neal Hefti's "Lil' Darlin'",[4] a piece made famous by Count Basie.[8]