Joe Jewell Quartet at Steamers: (L-R) Reed Gratz--piano, Baba Elefante--electic bass, Mike Bennett--drums and Joe Jewell--guitar. Photo by Glenn A. Mitchell

Guitarist and educator Dr. Joe Jewell brings his amazing quartet to Steamers every few months. His group is phenomenal! All quartet members are virtuoso performers playing some interesting and diverse fusion elements into straight-ahead jazz. The band: Dr. Reed Gratz – Fender Rhodes piano; Baba Elefante – electric bass; Mike Bennett – drums; and Jewellguitar.

The jazz standard, “Things Ain’t What They Used To Be,” began the evening of April 16th for a near to full capacity audience. These guys really cook together! Incomparable solos began with Gratz, followed by Elefante, Bennnett and Jewell, and would continue throughout the evening in stellar fashion. The audience enjoyed the group a lot and showed their appreciation with consistent applause.

Many of the night’s tunes came from the Jewell quartet’s recent CD, Every Note Counts. Part of the beauty of this quartet and their CD comes from their eclectic repertoire. “Blue Bossa” and the great “Stella By Starlight” showed eloquence from each musician. I noticed unique bass chords and interesting scale dissonances in Elefante’s bass work that makes his musical command top notch. The jazz standard “Angel Eyes” was especially impressive, as it was a special arrangement by Jewell and will be on their next CD. This particular number lasted longer than the others, I thought, but became richer and fuller.

Mike Bennett has just finished a world tour with famed pop icon, Hilary Duff, but always keeps his jazz drumming very formidable. They continued with “Some Other Time,” which Jewell mentioned he had heard vocalist Lauren Koval perform recently. It was a very smooth version and showed their passion in playing this lovely ballad. Gratz and Jewell gave wonderful solo choruses.

The closing tunes included an avant garde musical exposition of “Have You Met Miss Jones?” To watch this musical progress was mind-blowing! All possibilities of fusion jazz elements forged ahead throughout the piece. The group followed with a blues rock number by the great guitarist, Kenny Burrell, “Chitlins Con Carne.” It was a bountiful dish. The set and the evening closed with Wes Montgomery’s beautiful classic, “Road Song.” The audience stayed to the end of this musically satisfying night. See Dr. Jewell’s website: www.joejewellguitar.com and look for their return to Steamers. Definitely recommended.