Two years in the studio results in a masterful album
Jonathan Wimpee. If you’re in the music scene and you don’t know that name, you aren’t in the music scene. Jon is one of the most prolific guitar players in the region, a musical chameleon who is equally at home playing rock, blues, jazz, country, folk, funk, reggae, even dusty old Irish tunes when called upon, and that’s not even touching on his impeccable vocal skills.
Here is a guy who has literally played a gig with one band in the morning, a different band in the afternoon, a third one that evening, all different genres, and has moved effortlessly between each, playing whatever needed playing at the moment as though it were the only thing he’d played his whole life.
He’s good, is what I’m saying. He’s very good and highly sought after. The number of local albums and recordings he’s guest starred on is beyond the scope of this article. His current active résumé includes Milele Roots, Ogya, Molly Maguires, Noise Kings, Dagobah Militia and Happy Little Accidents. Those are his regular bands, the list of acts he is asked to sit in with for one-off performances is, again, beyond the scope of this writing.
For all the respect and admiration Jon has rightfully earned in the eyes of his fellow musicians, for all the love of the fans, one thing has been missing from the man who has spent a career making other people’s bands sound good. There has never been a Jon Wimpee solo album, at least not until now. Two years in the studio, a lifetime in the making, State of Mind is ready for public consumption and it does not disappoint.
That wasn’t a given. The risk of a guy who can basically do everything releasing a solo album is that he might try to do everything, resulting in an incoherent mess of a record without focus or direction. Such is not the case. State of Mind is a magnum opus, a study in subtlety, style, taste and refinement, the mark of a consummate professional who knows his business.
Recorded locally by the incomparable Mitch Wood, the jazz infused collection features performances by some of the scene’s best and brightest. Drums are provided by Ivan Garcia, Yattie Westfield, and Adam Brown. The bass is laid down by Dan Pinson, Tyler Reddick and Charles Gaston.
The guitar work is, of course, Jon Wimpee, along with contributions by Yattie Westfield. Jack Kirton provides steel guitar. Jessica Nunn adds viola to the mix and keys are provide by Marcus White, Brett Nolan and Carl Pemberton. Jeff McSpadden and Mitch Wood play percussion and Amy Forrester performs background vocals.
Simply put, this album contains one of the most all star lineups of anything recorded and released in the area, ever, and the result is a collection of the tastiest, funkiest grooves I’ve ever heard.
Frankly, my big ol’ box of superlatives is useless here because no word or combination of words captures the spirit and flavor of the thing as well as those six letters: groove. “Well Enough Alone” is a jazzy little bossa nova number reminiscent of “Girl from Ipanema” while “Dig” is a study of smooth, progressive jazz with keys to die for. “My Hometown” is a loving look at the places we all come from, with a Thomas Wolfe slant. Maybe you really can’t go home again, except in your own mind, but maybe that’s good enough.
“Ain’t Gonna Give Up” still has a jazz backbone, but is so much a soul tune it ought to come with a plate of greens and fatback. It’s the kind of tune that will have you bobbing and grooving without realizing you’re doing it; it just kinda takes control.
“Dirty Beans and Rice” is a funky instrumental jam and may be my favorite track of the lot. Think, “Little Feat” at the height of their playing and you have an approximation of the song.
There are twelve tracks in all, each one a mini-masterpiece lovingly crafted. I listened to this album through a nice set of studio headphones and the engineering is phenomenal, the tracks are living, breathing entities, complex but uncrowded.
Jazzy, heartfelt, beautifully written and executed, State of Mind is what happens when the best of the best get together to make an album. It may have been a long time in the making, but every track reaffirms that it was well worth the wait.
Photo by Phil Thach, faceboook.com/philthachphoto