Jeff Shirley holds down a longstanding residency at Green Lady Lounge, but the guitarist ventures well beyond the popular Kansas City club’s venue’s signature sound on his new album Blue Gold. Assisted by an able cast of colleagues, Shirley demonstrates a mastery of a myriad of jazz styles.
The swinging “Crestfallin’” and “Oneology” convey the jaunty atmosphere of the dimly lit Green Lady Lounge. Yet “Terrarium” is a tasty slice of throwback smooth jazz. The meditative “Nila Suvarna Hamsa” evokes Ralph Towner’s work for ECM Records.
Saxophonist Max Levy and trumpeter Bryan Foote help make the funky “Planet 22” a throwback to the heyday of the Brecker Brothers. “Eastborn” is among the tracks filled with Metheny-isms. The greasy fusion “Halothane” is countered by the old-school vocalese of Misha Roberts on "2n+1".
Kansas City’s jazz scene contains different and often uncongenial camps. The members of the smooth jazz, mainstream swing, noisy improvisation, soul jazz, organ jazz and post-bop factions of the town don’t always interact with one another. Shirley easily bridges those divides on the eclectic Blue Gold.