If nothing else, guitarist John Basile’s Amplitudes should win praise as a pioneering effort in musical technology.  Possibly the first commercial recording using iPhone apps, Amplitudes brings multi-track recording to street level, the result of plugging three guitars into the phone via ProTools. Fortunately, due to Basile’s artistry as well as modern digital wizardry, Amplitudes is far more than a novelty act. It’s lush guitaristry. Consider it a 21st century, six-string progression from Conversations With Myself. 

Throughout the album, the presentations are definitely duo or trio (or more), “solos’’ are accompanied by bass, by complementary, counterpoint voices, some digitized as to defy easy characterization. Eleven of the 12 tracks are covers, but quite a diverse array, from the steel string, finger-style opening tunes-- “Ralph’s Piano Waltz” (by John Abercrombie) and “You’re Right as Rain” (Thom Bell and Linda Creed)—to elegantly melodic, nylon-string ballads from Ralph Towner (“Celeste”) and Sean Smith (“Homesick”) and songbook standards from Hammerstein and Kern (a playfully rhythmic “I’ve Told Every Little Star”), Rodgers and Hart (the modal distortions of “My Funny Valentine”), Mancini and Mercer (a gently swinging “Moon River”), and Bernstein (a wistful “Some Other Time”).  Basile fills out the set with the harmonic expansions of Oliver Nelson’s “Stolen Moments,” the forthright walking basslines of Jane Herbert’s “It’s Nice to Be Here With You,” the sunny breezes of Jobim’s “Fotographia,” and the intriguing, jagged foreboding of his own 12-tone row experiment, “Home Row.”  

It’s often difficult to remember this music was recorded by one musician, although, indeed, as Basile notes, there’s “3 guitars, 1 player, 1 engineer and just enough current recording techniques and technology to combine forces and represent jazz with a conversational relevance.” And one iPhone. If this is the future of jazz recording, bring it on. There might be a lot of bells and whistles and digital magic behind the scenes, but what I hear from my old-fashioned CD player are the beautiful melodies and harmonies of subtle, charming chamber jazz.  

More about John Basile at www.johnbasile.net