REVIEW FROM L.A. JAZZ SCENE

Reunion 2000
Juan Manuel (Artist Unlimited)

By: Jonathan Barg

Life is funny. Things will be status quo for a while, then bam! Something unexpected happens. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes not. My sincere wish to you is that the good things happen more than the other things. And in the case of our guitarist under review, life threw him a really good thing.

Juan Manuel’s mentor and long time pal from L.A., pianist Shelly Berg, was flying into Houston for a performance at the annual Kemah Jazz Festival. That event was the catalyst for this CD, aptly named "Reunion 2000". Juan (may I call you Juan?) contacted his college friends (now all working musicians) and asked if they’d ‘fly’ into Friendswood to record his CD with Shelly Berg as pianist. They all said yes and a mutual admiration society was formed and the nucleus of this group was born. Working around Berg’s performance schedule, the group rehearsed a little and recorded a lot. The resulting nine tracks yield a mother lode of contemporary jazz.

Juan (he said I could call him Juan) is the leader but deference is given to the master Berg as he freely swings on the piano. "Each Sweet Beat of your Heart" swings with a bossa nova feel thanks to Berg’s piano technique. The closely miked guitar picks up the precise fretwork by Juan Manuel. The piano and guitar harmonizing is a nice touch. "Reunion Express" brings Berg and Manuel together again on a straight ahead composition. Larry Slezak’s tenor sax adds a lot here, really punching home the straight ahead feel. Tom Cummings drives the tune with his forceful effort on the tom-toms and his snazzy snare work. This may not be the prettiest cut on the disc, but it swings mightily and the players are on fire.

"The Gift" features percussionist Cummings this time on vibes. Perhaps exposure to George Shearing in my formative years is responsible, but the vibraphone adds a real touch of class to any recording. Bravo to Mr. Cummings for hauling his gear to Texas. There are tasty solo opportunities for the tenor of Slezak and Keith Vivens is the heartbeat of this tune with his sensitive playing of the electric bass.

"Cartagena Sunrise" shows Manuel’s classical guitar to advantage and nicely leads into Berg’s piano solo. A Latin feel is present thanks to the creative percussion work of Cummings. On this cut especially the players feel relaxed and perform like old pals, each very comfortable with the other. This cut has a dynamite ending too. The final selection "Childhood Dreams" features Manuel solo on classical guitar. A fun cut for he demonstrates some neat guitar dynamics, including a guitar / scat singing harmonizing session that gives George Benson a run for his money.

To sum all this up, what we come away with is an intimate jazz disc, born out of a chance reunion on friends and fused in the inferno of great musicianship and a love of jazz. This is a contemporary jazz CD filled with excellent guitar, piano, sax, and percussion work. This would be a good gift to someone new to the jazz world or as a gift to yourself. Two thumbs up. –Jonathan Barg. L.A. Jazz Scene