Drew Davidsen | Around (Again)

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The sure fire, guitar plucking efforts that surrounds the make-up for Jazz artist Drew Davidsen’s recent disc, “Around (Again)” carries a significant value for some R&B music, while embraces a much softer, smoother pop sounding approach to various compositions that underlies the entire project. With a little spicier edge to a hip appealing sound on a couple of compositions, “Around (Again)” tackles every area of a ‘watercolor’ jazz music template. On any given plateau, or at any of the recent live performances he attended under his belt, Drew has something to offer here & is worthy of a listen.

Track Listing:
~ Bounce
~ Around (Again)
~ Going Coastal
~ Astro
~ Island Blues
~ Road Trip
~ Only 4 U
~ Plus 12
~ Friend
~ Smile

As soulful contemporary jazz can grab you, is as the intention opening track ‘Bounce’ enters the room. Smooth, gentle plucks of the guitar strings & a simple melody hook is all it took to sway this one. Smooth Jazz rhythmic & radio captioned ‘Around (Again)’ was too easy to giveaway. Very simple melodies was a little too predictable. ‘Going Coastal’ & ‘Astro’ kept with the same influence, while ‘Island Blues’ does take me out of that simplicity realm & finally into a more intriguing, creative modern blues feel. The guitar presence of Mr. Davidsen begins to stick out, especially around the 2:00 minute mark of the composition, as he spills a little solo scat midway into the track.

‘Road Trip’ balanced the CD with a mellow, mid-tempo flavor and ‘Only 4 U‘ slows it down a littler bit more, orchestrating a soothing pace of background vocals, a slightly chilled romantic grooveline & a hooking catchy melody. ‘Plus 12’ kicks it up a notch & resorts to a peaking funky number. A free-flowing track with a nice groove & a backing bass guitar solo that is sure to garner attention. The opening conga snapping to ‘Friend’ cascades the composition easily into the hands of Drew’s guitar skills. Finally ‘Smile’ left an impression Mr. Davidsen intended to decorate the listeners mind with – a journal of peaceful, thought provoking songs sealed with enough of Drew’s musical tangibles to make you wonder about another pending project to come soon after this one.

“Around (Again)” was a step in the right direction for Mr. Davidsen, although I would highly recommend shaving some of the smooth jazz cream/formulas off a couple of tracks & allow for more freedom & creativity to channel through. “Around (Again)” contained a fair medium of enticing tracks, but after awhile, many of those ‘too smooth – radio friendly’ tracks burned out of interest. Drews’ proficiency on the guitar may make up for the entire disc rotation. I hope next time when the opportunity is given, he would challenge those skills & take the production level up towards more adventurous, complex driven compositions designed to showcase his overall gift on the guitar.

Terrill Hanna
The Urban Music Scene