Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Bob Marbach: Out At Night

158

Bob Marbach: Out At Night

By

Sign in to view read count
Bob Marbach: Out At Night
Keyboardist Bob Marbach's debut EP release, Out At Night, is a trio set featuring Jon Mele on drums and Toshi Someya on bass. The program features four original compositions by Marbach along with a cover of Sonny Rollins' "Pent Up House. The album finds the trio locked in series of dark, soulful grooves.

Marbach sticks primarily to electric piano and organ, giving the performances a pleasing pulse. Those electric clusters of notes serve to modernize and inject a measure of soul into the casual, strutting lope of "Walking In Place. Of course, a standard acoustic piano could give you all the same notes, but the gist of the whole enterprise would be lost.

If the electronics help in some places, they inevitably detract in others. "Ocean Parkway features a lovely melody that is slightly curdled by the addition of some synthesized strings. The slight, hollow sound distracts the listener from the delicacy of Mele and Someya's playing. The same can be said for some of the futuristic sounding effects on "2002 Tango. Instead of paying attention to the meat of the performance, you find yourself pulled away and asking, "what was that sound?

However, aside from some reservations about the instrumentation, there is a lot of fine, intriguing playing on Out At Night. I look forward to future efforts, with the hope that the trio can pare down its sound to the more minimalist code that is featured on the album's more successful tracks.

Track Listing

Out At Night: Ocean Parkway; Walking In Place; 2002 Tango; Pent Up House

Personnel

Bob Marbach-keyboards; Jon Mele-drums; Toshi Someya-bass

Album information

Title: Out At Night | Year Released: 2005 | Record Label: Blue Canoe Records

Comments

Tags


For the Love of Jazz
Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who create it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

You Can Help
To expand our coverage even further and develop new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for a modest $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination will vastly improve your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

What Was Happening
Bobby Wellins Quartet
Laugh Ash
Ches Smith
A New Beat
Ulysses Owens, Jr. and Generation Y

Popular

Eagle's Point
Chris Potter
Light Streams
John Donegan - The Irish Sextet

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.