Glenn Rexach Group

The Glenn Rexach Group
PanaRican
REVIEWED BY MICHAEL TOLAND, FRI., APRIL 8, 2016

printwrite a letterTexas Platters
Austin Strat cat Glenn Rexach eschews rock and blues flamboyance for jazz virtuosity on third album PanaRican. The Austin School of Music instructor and accompanists Aaron Hatmaker (bass) and Kevin Scott (drums) hit right out of the gate with "Flex Time," a bluesy funk bopper that wouldn't sound out of place on an early John Scofield LP. Favoring clean tones and a subtle R&B feel, the band soars through "Soul Stretch," and fuzz colors molten soloing on the friendly fusion of "Angst Freedom Rider." Rexach also turns 250-year-old hymn "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" into a lush jazz ballad. The epic "Barbacoa Reverie" starts out bossa nova before ramping up to a polyrhythmic display of dazzling group interplay. Despite his impressive skill, Rexach rarely descends into self-indulgence, utilizing his technique without being excessive. Taste gives PanaRican an accessible lift most fusioneers never accomplish. - Austin Chronicle

SPM; Tell me about your band. I saw you guys play Wobeon Fest and was pleasantly surprised. You three were tight as a Swiss clock. How did you meet up and start playing together?
Glenn R; Thanks! Kevin and I first met when he joined a group I was in called Just Released. We were a neo-Jazz group (with one release, The Grease, avail on iTunes), and from the first snare crack, I knew that Kevin was a very special drummer. He’s very reactive to what’s happening around him, and is a great musical conversationalist. I met Aaron when the three of us were briefly in a cover band, and I immediately was drawn to his deep, solid groove, and the way he and Kevin created a delicious pocket. After having put my original project on hiatus, I realized that I had found the new trio. I asked, they said yes, and we started rehearsing, and the rest is history.

SPM; Glenn, are you the primary writer of all the music?

Glenn R: Yes. I’ve been composing for many years now, and have focused on guitar trio oriented tunes.

SPM; Hmmm, I’ve seen Kevin Scott the drummer before in another trio, with David Henderson and Lynne Davis.
Kevin, when did you first start playing drums? Who were your influences growing up? Who do you follow as a drummer most these days, years later? What kind of gear do you play on?

Kevin S: I started playing professionally at the tender age of 8 in 1971, in Birmingham, Alabama. I was exposed to jazz around the age of 12 by a gentleman named Jimmy Chappell. Growing up, I listened to Art Blaker, Jimmy Cobb, Carlos Vega, and Gene Krupa. I started listening to Billy Cobham, Harvey Mason, and Dennis Chambers later on, Now I listen to Simon Phillips, Vinnie Colaiuta, Chris “Daddy” Dave, and Horacio Hernandez. I’m presently playing on Pearl Masters Series and Gretsch Catalina Birch kit at my home recording studio.

SPM; Glenn, you also play with one of my favorite singers, Jacqui Walker. You click well there,too. Do you co-write any of that material, or is this your main baby?

Glenn R; The first time I played with Jacqui, we met about 10 minutes before the gig started, and right away there was a connection, and at the end of the gig I told her that I wanted to be her guitar player, and now I have been for the last 3&1/2 yrs. On her new self titled CD, I helped with a few of the arrangements, but she does the primary songwriting.

SPM; Tell us about your new cd that is breaking now? How many tracks, where did you record it, who produced, engineered it ? Is all the material original?

Glenn R; Yeah! It’s called PanaRican, and we recorded it in two days at 512 Studios, with Omar Vallejo engineering. He also did the mixing and mastering. Brilliant guy! The cd was really made possible by all the lovely people that contributed to my GoFundMe campaign, and myself. There are 9 tracks, 8 of which are original, and one is an arrangement of a hymn penned in the late 1700s. One of the tracks, Morning Leg, was recorded at Anti-Matter Studios, with Travis Kennedy engineering.SPM; – Pick 4 tracks off of it we need to hear asap, and can you provide us with links?

Flex Time https://youtu.be/g_O_mWOcvQ0
Barbacoa Reverie https://youtu.be/8kVnjbVa86o
PanaRican
Soul Stretch

SPM; Any stories behind how these songs were written, and what they are about?

Glenn R; Let’s see, many of the tunes I just stumble upon while playing, and try to flesh them out while trying to stay out of the way, if that makes sense. Ru’bot’s Hair Dance is probably the fastest tune I’ve written, in terms of how long it took (about 2 days). It’s about my daughter, Ruby, doing what she called a robot hair dance, with her hands in her hair, hands and head moving robotically. Angst Freedom Rider refers to Eric Johnson, in a tongue in cheek kind of way. I’m a huge fan of his playing,which, to me, is remarkably free of angst, whereas Angst is chock full of it. Yes Diggity is an answer to the hip hop tune, No Diggity, and parts of the tune uses the same chord progression. PanaRican is an homage to my Puerto Rican father and Panamanian mother,and is the title track. Barbacoa Reverie is an ode to a favorite kind of taco. Morning Leg…well, you know. Soul Stretch is kind of an Al Green kind of vibe.

SPM; Your set at Wobeon was hot stuff. You three seem to be right at home in the jazz field. Bassist Aaron Hatmaker played flawlessly. Aaron, what gear do you play, and how long have you been at this? What bands, if any, have you played with before this? Who are your main influences in the jazz field?

Aaron H; I play mostly Dodera NYC Jazz basses and Aguilar Amplification with various envelope filters and octave dividers–been playing 22 years now–did a lot of sub work in Nashville; and, I was the house bassist at the BB King’s Blues Club for 4 years, which was cool because everybody who’s anybody would sit in with us, from Bernard Purdie, to Erykah Badu. Reggie Wooten was a huge personal influence on me, as well as the usual suspects, Marcus (Miller), Will Lee, Jaco, and Bobby Vega.

SPM; Glenn, what gear are you playing on? Guitars, amps, strings, and string gauge, please…

Glenn R; Currently, my main guitar is my ’05 Eric Johnson model Fender Strat. I am an endorser of Lollar pickups, so I have a set of their pups in my EJ. On Yes Diggity, I used my Gibson 339. My amp is a 50 watt Port City Amps (of which I am an endorser) Pearl combo, which I love! String gauges, I use a 11-50 set, usually GHS Nickel Rockers.

SPM; Glenn, who would you like to work with that you haven’t had the chance to yet?
Glenn R; There are so many artists in so many different genres that I would love to play with…too many to mention!

SPM; Where can we hear this amazing trio you put together? It’s simply some of the best local jazz out there for eager jazz fans and music aficionados.

Glenn R; Thanks for the kind words, Timothy! In Austin, we perform at the Elephant Room, the Brass House, and occasionally at the One2One Bar. We are performing a SXSW showcase on March 17, at 9:00, at the Elephant Room, and on March 12 we’ll be doing a set at the Ultimate Lousiana Blues and Cultural Festival at 4:15 at the legendary Victory Grille.

SPM; Are you union members or NARAS members? Many are, many aren’t.

Glenn R; I’ve been a proud member of AFM local #433 for a few decades.

SPM; We hope you play Wobeon again this year. Another friend of ours, Kevin Lucas, a marimba monster, is playing there this year. Last year, you opened for the legendary Billy Cobham. That’s a big score. You earned it. What are your plans for 2016? Any touring outside of Austin?

Glenn R; Being sandwiched between legendary guitarist Scott Henderson, who I’ve been an admirer of for decades, and Billy Cobham, was a little stressful for me, but as soon as we started playing, there was no stress, only the music, and collectively we ended up playing our asses off. For this year, I’m going to push our new release hard, and am working on getting us slots at various festivals in and outside of Austin.

SPM; Who are your favorite jazz guitarists?

Glenn R; Kurt Rosenwinkel, Wayne Krantz, John Scofield, Lage Lund, Jim Hall, Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, Jimmy Raney, Pat Martino, George Benson, Oz Noy, Scott Henderson, Jimmy Herring, Jon Herington, Alan Holdsworth, Jeff Beck, and many others… - Sound Profile Magazine

Posted by Michelle Martin | On 14 September,2015 | In Blog
September 13th, 2015 – Austin, TX – WOBEONFEST

Contemporary jazz blues set, blending funk with a smooth grip on blues, finish is key. Pounding bass, guitar licks, tone, and drumming cuts. Nice smooth transition, Glenn, slices the tones, they are in sync. All instruments have their parts to play, equal. Great instrumental. Soul wrenching playing style, roots. Feeling and harmony. The room listening in anticipation of the next note. Clean, clear picks of the guitar, smooth as butter to the ears. Snare drum, high hat, thumping, pounding, feel it in your chest, love of the music. A little foot tappin’ to accompany the rhythm. Beautiful music, enough said. “Ru’bot’s Hair dance” kicked it off, followed by “Yes Diggity”, blending into

“Soul Stretch” it has a mellow smooth funk wrapped in a breathless anticipatory lightheaded easy sway with a Latin feel. The bass has a slap and pop like no other.
“Fuzzy Undulating Logic” and “Flex Time” played in a funky groove, reminiscent of time gone past.
The band comprised of Glenn Rexach on guitar, Kevin Scott on drums, and on bass guitar is Aaron Hatmaker.

Glenn also plays in the Jacqui Walker Band and is a guitar instructor at The Austin School of Music. - Sound Profile Magazine

It's the luminous, shimmering tone that catches you right off, the opening salvo to the title track that lures you into this Austin jazz guitarist's debut album. The tune is a celebration of caffeine, a rich, smooth brew but one that eschews the elixir's often jagged edges. That's not to say that Glenn Rexach can't get a bit gnarly when he wants to. His penchant for the likes of Jeff Beck and Wayne Krantz makes itself evident on more angular, sonorous fare like "Electric Drunk" and "Fuzzy Undulating Logic." Rexach demonstrates a gentler, more melodic side on "A.D.," a heartfelt tribute to late Austin drummer A.D. Mannion. He's joined on this live-yet-studio-quality-sounding trio date by veterans Steve Zirkel on bass and drummer Brad Evilsizer. It's a pleasure to finally have this always tasteful but often overlooked local stalwart stretching out in the spotlight. - Austin Chronicle

GRG's latest album PANARICAN represents so much of what’s so great in the Jazz-Funk-Fusion world: a musical tapestry that seamlessly transposes technical virtuosity with the lyrical sweetness of blues-and-soul underpinnings that makes this 9-track outpouring by the Glenn Rexach Group trio a likely perennial in one’s digital playlist and CD tray.

The operative words here are “fluid” and “seamless”. Right from the get-go, PANARICAN takes one on an extended journey through myriad emotions, quietly breaking down natural inclinations to genre-define the music or search for comparisons with past masters of their craft. A few seconds in to the first track Flex Time (a funk-laden gem), and it’s clear that this is going to be a special journey flexing musical brain cells searching that utopic setting most music fans crave – achieving that elusive “live” sound and feel in a recording-studio setting.

Lead-man Rexach’s guitar work is unique – a delectable amalgam of virtuosity and controlled aggression that pays quiet homage to others who came before him, yet has that special voicing and lyrical essence that makes his sound uniquely his own. Influences from John Scofield, Pat Metheny, Mike Stern, Scott Henderson, Wes Montgomery and others seem to play hide-and-seek from time to time, although one quickly learns to sit back and just let the album overcome you.

Named for GRG founder Glenn Rexach’s dual Panamanian and Puerto Rican roots, PANARICAN is by no means a “Latin” CD in conventional terms – and yet, there is that underpinning of syncopation and phrasing that permeates the whole album that is perhaps exemplified by the title track. Or perhaps it’s that Rexach is known to display more mad skills in his side-man bass avatar with Latin and Soul artists like Rey Arteaga and Malford Milligan. Either way, the end result is an album that is equally accessible to both music pros and “just-fans” alike.

Make no mistake, however – this is not just a “guitar-player” album. This trio is also home to drummer Kevin Scott, a formidable player and composer in his own right. Whether they are straight-ahead tracks or complex time-signatures, Scott stays consistently and tightly “in the pocket” - even as he unleashes some breath-stopping, flamboyant chops within - that cannot but evoke fond memories of Billy Cobham, Omar Hakim, Vinnie Colaiuta, Chad Wackerman, Steve Smith and others (check out the track “Angst Freedom Rider” as an example). Bass duties on this album are ably shared by Ed Friedlander and Aaron Hatmaker, each of whom infuses his own quiet low-end groove-making within.

When it’s all said and done, it’s hard to reconcile that this album emanated from a trio or within the confines of a studio. And that 8 of the 9 tracks are entirely original compositions. The feel is fresh, live, electric,... and FULL; and the music is so much more than just the sum of its parts. And oh yeah – fluid and seamless. DEFINITELY fluid and seamless. - Jakes Srinivisan