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The Jon Hemmesam/Dom Minasi Quartet: The Jon Hemmersam/Dom Minasi Quartet

By Glenn Astarita
November 7, 2007
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The Jon Hemmesam/Dom Minasi Quartet: The Jon Hemmersam/Dom Minasi Quartet

Guitarists Dom Minasi and Jon Hemmersam kindled a relationship back in 1994, which set the stage for the advent of this studio set, recorded in Denmark. The quartet activates a bonding of like-minded American/Danish jazz musicians, and it's a divergent jamboree at that, where the dual guitarists generate gobs of excitement via brisk and bursting free-bop phrasings, torrid swing vamps, delicate balladry and more.

Minasi and his counterpart often engage in buzzing dialogs amid fast and furious exchanges. Everything is fair game, but the musicians provide a structural component throughout. Minasi's somewhat patented, stinging single note flurries act as a near flawless foil for Hemmersam's blitzing chord progressions and swift breakouts. On "Conclusions, the musicians indulge in playful four-way exchanges atop a staggered pulse and subliminal mini-motif. But they mix fire and ice by calming the waters with the gentle jazz waltz groove heard on the delightful "Inside Out.

The energized guitar duo tempers the flow during a few sweet-toned electro-acoustic ballads, yet they hunker down on free-form and highly expressionistic pieces such as "Birth. Overall, the guitarists lay it all out atop the fluid and powerful flows set down by the rhythm section. It's one of the finest dual-guitar convergences in quite some time, and not to be overlooked.

Visit Jon Hemmersam and Dom Minasi on the web.

Track Listing

Sprint; Conclusions; Inside Out; Woman; Nathalia's Waltz; Birth; September; Sound-check; Gentle; Latino Mio.

Personnel

Dom Minasi

guitar

Jon Hemmersam: electric and Spanish guitar; Dom Minasi: electric and acoustic 12-string guitar; Ken Filiano: double-bass; Kresten Osgood: drums.

Album information

Title: The Jon Hemmersam/Dom Minasi Quartet | Year Released: 2007 | Record Label: Self Produced

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