''Arclight'' is the fourth solo album by American jazz guitarist

Julian Lage Julian Price Lage ( ; born December 25, 1987) is an American guitarist and composer. A child prodigy, Lage performed at the 2000 Grammy Awards at age 12, and at 15 became a faculty member of the Stanford Jazz Workshop. He released his debut a ...

. Two tracks were given a prerelease, "Nocturne" and "Harlem Blues".

Background

''Arclight'' was recorded on a

Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele (), is an electric guitar produced by Fender (company), Fender. Together with its sister model the Fender Esquire, Esquire, it was the world's first mass-produced, commercially successfulLes ...

, which is not generally considered to be a jazz guitar. Lage stated in an interview that "the electric guitar was always so fascinating to me, and my guitar heroes played it...

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray Vaughan (also known as SRV; October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble (band), Double Trouble. Although his ma ...

... Clapton or whatnot—

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician who was an important figure in the post-World War II blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of moder ...

." While most of the tunes on the album are originals, there are several "pre-bebop" compositions, from "before things got kind of codified and slick and refined", in Lage's words. Lage said he enjoyed such tunes mostly because of the

chord changes In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural, or simply changes) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from t ...

, what he described as a "slippery approach to basically fundamental harmony". "Nocturne", one of the pre-release singles, was an old

Spike Hughes Patrick Cairns "Spike" Hughes (19 October 1908 – 2 February 1987) was a British musician, composer and arranger involved in the worlds of classical music and jazz. He has been called Britain's earliest jazz composer, and was a pioneer of te ...

composition. Lage said he liked this tune because "it starts on this minor chord, and...it's very hard to find...songs that weren't major, that weren't happy, that weren't just total dance music". According to Lage, the chord progression played on "Harlem Blues" (a

W. C. Handy William Christopher Handy (November 16, 1873 – March 28, 1958) was an American composer and musician who referred to himself as the Father of the Blues. He was one of the most influential songwriters in the United States. One of many musician ...

composition) was inspired by

Willard Robison Willard Robison (September 18, 1894 – June 24, 1968) was an American vocalist, pianist, and composer of popular songs, born in Shelbina, Missouri. His songs reflect a rural, melancholy theme steeped in Americana and their warm style has ...

's chord changes for the song, slightly different from Handy's simpler progression.

Reception

Critical reception was generally positive. Troy Collins of

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

called it a "brisk but bracing affair", while Doug Collette of the same publisher noted "Lage proves himself not just a student of his instrument...but an exceedingly fast learner in the art of studio recording." Collette praised producer Jesse Harris, saying "Harris deserves extra credit for the size and clarity of the recorded sound here because that introductory track arises from the speaker...with as much presence as magnitude."

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

critic Cormac Larkin said that the album had "echoes of Bill Frisell and particularly Jim Hall", the latter being one of Lage's major influences.

Track listing

All compositions written by Julian Lage except where noted. 1 Fortune Teller – 3:03 2 Persian Rug (Charlie Daniels/

Gus Kahn Gustav Gerson Kahn (November 6, 1886October 8, 1941) was an American lyricist who contributed a number of songs to the Great American Songbook, including " Pretty Baby", " Ain't We Got Fun?", " Carolina in the Morning", " Toot, Toot, Tootsie (G ...

) – 2:23 3 Nocturne (

) – 3:19 4 Supera – 4:01 5 Stop Go Start – 3:31 6 Activate – 2:08 7 Presley – 4:12 8 Prospero – 3:08 9 I'll Be Seeing You (

Sammy Fain Sammy Fain (born Samuel E. Feinberg; June 17, 1902 – December 6, 1989) was an American composer of popular music. In the 1920s and early 1930s, he contributed numerous songs that form part of The Great American Songbook, and to Broadway theatr ...

Irving Kahal Irving Kahal (March 5, 1903, Houtzdale, Pennsylvania – February 7, 1942, New York City) was a popular American song lyricist active in the 1920s and 1930s. He is best remembered for his collaborations with composer Sammy Fain which started in ...

) – 3:31 10 Harlem Blues (

) – 3:27 11 Ryland – 4:02

Personnel

* Julian Lage –

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

Scott Colley Scott Colley (born November 24, 1963) is an American jazz double bassist and composer. As of 2024, he had been nominated for 4 Grammy Awards, including Best Jazz Instrumental Album for '' Guided Tour'' in 2014 and '' Still Dreaming'' in 2019. Duri ...

– bass *

Kenny Wollesen Kenny Wollesen (born 1966) is an American drummer and percussionist. Wollesen has recorded and toured with Tom Waits, Sean Lennon, Ron Sexsmith, Bill Frisell, Norah Jones, John Lurie, Myra Melford, Steven Bernstein, and John Zorn. He is a fou ...

– drums,

vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

Charts

References

{{Authority control Julian Lage albums 2016 albums Mack Avenue Records albums