Search - Mark Elf :: Live at Small's

Mark Elf plays bop guitar in a classic vein--high speed, harmonically adventurous, rhythmically aggressive--recalling giants of the form like Barney Kessel, Tal Farlow, and Jimmy Raney. He has technique to spare, and it enables him to add fresh rhythmic detail to a cascading line and to push a long solo to its logical limits. His combination of raw vigor and high dexterity is especially apparent on this, his first live release, recorded in 1995. The youthful rhythm section of Neal Miner on bass and Joe Strausser on drums provided the guitarist with all the fuel he needed. On bop classics like Horace Silver's "Quicksilver" and Thelonious Monk's "52nd Street Theme," Elf is happy at tempos that would have pleased Charlie Parker. He also swings effusively on Kenny Dorham's "The Theme," a Jazz Messengers anthem. The guitarist's lyrical side shows in some rich chorded passages on standards like "Stella by Starlight" and "Too Close for Comfort," but even the ballads are animated by kinetic, coiling, single-note lines. There are two extended versions of his blues song "109 West," and Elf shows that he can find different inspirations in the same material. --Stuart Broomer