Dave Hartl: "Tales from the Plague"

Dave Hartl
"Tales of the Plague"
Self-Produced
2021

Dave Hartl stretches his prowess on keyboards and many other instruments across several different ensembles in and around Philadelphia, PA: A quartet supporting a vocalist, a Linda Ronstadt tribute/review, a jazz-funk group (Musical Collusion, which also includes saxophonist Carl Cox), and a large esoteric classical ensemble featuring harps, vibraphone and theremin (The Divine Hand Ensemble). He also occasionally sits in with The Hot Club of Philadelphia, a gypsy jazz ensemble playing music that honors Django Reinhardt, plus several other local jazz, ballet, and orchestral ensembles.

The kaleidoscopic, pinballing"Tales of the Plague," primarily featuring Hartl on various keyboards, Chapman stick and guitar, with saxophonist Cox and drummer Josh Orlando (plus Dave's son Miles Hartl on occasional guitar), touches every one of these bases. "The Zen Cabbie" drives it open hard and hot: Cox's soprano cuts the melody right through Hartl's chattering accompaniment then blasts into circular orbit like a spaceship, while drummer Orlando stretches and snaps back its hard rocking beat. "Fungit" shifts the mood from 1990s Miles Davis to 1960s James Brown on a fatback Hammond B-3 organ sound, the Godfather's famous "Cold Sweat" rhythmic push-and-pull, and gutbucket tenor sax that blows soulful and hot. Hartl's solo stirs in New Orleans funk and R&B, and turns its taste into a sweet jazz cocktail.

Hartl steers other tunes toward more reflective, peaceful sounds. His Chapman stick and D'Angelico guitar duet with Orlando's hand percussion to pour out Antonio Carlos Jobim's charming "Favela" like cool, clear flowing water; they leave Orlando behind to paint a lovely solo portrait of the Italian guitar ballad "Estaté." He also journeys solo on synthesizer and accordion through Astor Piazzolla's "Soledad" and on synthesizer and fretless bass through the dreamy "Breath of Helios."

"You're My Humpty," a medley of Chick Corea's "You're My Everything" and "Humpty Dumpty," is another powerful vehicle driven by Hartl's keyboard dexterity and a great performance worthy of its material.

"The past 14 months had proved to be the most creative and prolific year I've ever had in my musical life," Hartl notes on "Tales of the Plague." "Not having to entertain people in a live crowd, and being given total freedom and unlimited time, I found myself working harder in the studio than I ever could have before." Dr. Hartl emerged from his studio lab with an absolute monster.