Arclight, Julian Lage’s Mack Avenue debut, marks his first recorded outing on electric guitar and in a trio format, backed by double bassist Scott Colley and drummer Kenny Wollesen. Like that titular intense white light, Lage is a performer who burns brightly: The pace he sets is brisk and the mood often upbeat. Cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, great sound!

Vinyl Gourmet Best New Music 2016

• 180 Gram Audiophile Vinyl
• Pressed at RTI, USA
• Cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio
• Includes Download Code

Arclight, Julian Lage’s Mack Avenue debut, marks his first recorded outing on electric guitar and in a trio format, backed by double bassist Scott Colley and drummer Kenny Wollesen. Like that titular intense white light, Lage is a performer who burns brightly: The pace he sets is brisk, the mood often upbeat, the playing so quick-witted and offhandedly dazzling that one is compelled to immediately press “repeat,” especially when tracks like “Persian Rug” and “Activate” whiz by in under two and a half minutes. For a thoughtful artist like Lage, who will research and ruminate on a project long before he sets foot in a studio, this was a liberating experience, plugging in and playing with a kind of abandon. He was encouraged along the way by his producer and friend, the eclectic singer-songwriter Jesse Harris, who helped maintain an air of spontaneity and discovery throughout the trio’s three-day stint at Brooklyn Recording.

This album showcases Lage's growth as a leader and songwriter, and further solidifies his status as a premier guitar virtuoso. Lage has long been heralded for his virtuosic ability as an acoustic guitarist. In fact, he was well known in musician circles as a guitar prodigy whose early genius was captured in a 1997 Oscar-nominated documentary short, Jules At Eight. As an adult, he’s fulfilled the promise of his extraordinary youthful talent.

The New Yorker’s Alec Wilkinson declared, “He is in the highest category of improvising musicians, those who can enact thoughts and impulses as they receive them.”

“I feel like I’ve been on this very focused mission to make certain things a part of my musical life, and the electric guitar was one of the things that was missing. I’m very excited to share this.” - Lage

Though up to now Lage has largely recorded and performed original material, he wanted to explore his interpretive skills on Arclight, concentrating on music from the early to mid-20th century, "jazz before be-bop." Along with "Nocturne," Lage tackles W.C. Handy's "Harlem Blues," a Gus Kahn-Neil Moret piano roll number called "Persian Rug," and "I'll Be Seeing You," which starts off tenderly but gives way to a lively improvisational mid-section before finding its way back to the gentle, classic melody.

The rest of the album consists of originals, which, notes Lage, "celebrate the other period I'm obsessed with, the Keith Jarrett American quartet period, an improvisational jazz era that had such a rich connection to songs and to folk music. This was the concept for the album."

Track Listing:

Side A
01. Fortune Teller
02. Persian Rug
03. Nocturne
04. Supera
05. Stop Go Start
06. Activate

Side B
07. Presley
08. Prospero
09. I'll Be Seeing You
10. Harlem Blues
11. Ryland

Click here to listen to samples on YouTube.com ♫