Rez Abbasi's career develops in solid steps as does his touring schedule in the US and Europe. DownBeat devoted a 'Letter by the Editor' and excellent reviews to his previous albums. The concept of this new production is simply brilliant as he presents great well known titles in a yet unheard way.
The Rez Abbasi Acoustic Quartet re-imagines Jazz-Rock classics from Return To Forever, Herbie Hancock, Weather Report, Mahavishnu, Larry Coryell, Pat Martino, Bill Cobham,Tony Williams. Audiences can hear many of these electrified tunes from the 70's played in a modern acoustic setting for the first time.
Review
Mr. Abbasi succeeded in making some fairly cerebral intricacies feel intuitive and touched by a higher source. --The New York Times
An amazing guitarist...unique and beautiful music and best of all very original...I'm really impressed.--Pat Metheny
One of jazz's most intriguing journeys - Abbasi takes a bold step in resisting any stereotyping.--JazzTimes
In his hands, the globe's music feels relentlessly new and progressive. --LA Times
If you're like me, one of the things that irritates you about 1970s-era jazz-rock fusion is the frequent overproduction, which often came across as an attempt to gussy up the sonics while at the same time dumbing-down the music itself. For this fascinating and brilliant album, guitarist Rez Abbasi takes a handful of classics of the fusion genre and strips away all that stuff, performing them with an acoustic quartet (guitar, vibes, bass, drums) and revealing several of them (notably Weather Report's 'Black Market' and Herbie Hancock's 'Butterfly') to have quite a bit more substance than we might have suspected at the time. On a few tracks Abbasi plays a fretless guitar, which adds a strange and kind of nifty timbral dimension to the group s already unique sound. A must for all jazz collections.--Rick Anderson --CD HotList
In his hands, the globe's music feels relentlessly new and progressive. --LA Times
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