Slow Poke - At Home 2007

Well-known indie jazz label Palmetto Records made its first foray into the digital only market with this raw and rootsy, blues influenced post-bop jam project by the N.Y.C. based avant-garde quartet. It's a safe project to create such an experiment with, a homemade session recorded back in 1998 at the Brooklyn home of group bassist Tony Scherr and later remastered in 2006. Despite the release of one official CD, Redemption in 2000, the group was, even years later, popular on more or less a grass roots level. Heavily influenced by singer/songwriters, Scherr, saxman and keyboardist Michael Blake, slide and baritone guitarist David Tronzo, and drummer Kenny Wollesen have a ball exploring the psychedelic blues-rock potential of Eddie Harris' "Listen Here" and reaping a slow, soulful "Harvest" from the Neil Young classic. Along the way, they're "Rockin' in Rhythm," bringing a blues jam sensibility to Duke Ellington, and dive into the hypnotic swamp on Kurt Wagner's "The Saturday Option." At Home also offers a glimpse at Blake's free-form compositional prowess on three originals, including the molasses paced "Dry Socket," which lets the listener know that this band is intent at times on living up to its name. AMG.

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