David Andersen – Countrypolitan
Nashville guitarist David Andersen nicely blends jazz and country influences into a cool, yet energetic and harmonically imaginative approach. Andersen is able to execute intricate, dazzling runs, deliver crisp turnbacks in mid-solo, or craft elegant, clean melody runs and sweeping answering rhythms. But he displays his more sentimental side on Countrypolitan, a self-produced solo disc highlighted by wonderfully expressive thematic elaboration and phrasing.
Andersen tackles several familiar numbers, such as “Tennessee Waltz”, “El Paso”, “Mystery Train” and “You Don’t Know Me”, retaining each song’s thematic sensibility while consistently inserting a fresh lick or unusual embellishment, proving that it’s possible to make subtle alterations to shopworn material without distorting or destroying beloved arrangements.
Sometimes he makes these adjustments during a second chorus. He adds some Latin styling and seasoning to “Release Me/Crazy Arms”, carefully increasing the intensity throughout “Crazy Arms”. On “All I Have To Do Is Dream” and “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain”, he reaffirms these tunes’ tender aspects, while also demonstrating his fluidity and impressive technique. He keeps pushing the tempo on “Mystery Train”, darting in and around the time before concluding it with a flair. He even makes “The Dance”, hardly an intricate composition structurally, an interesting work through a tightly paced, briskly delivered treatment.
Without the assistance of a rhythm section or additional soloist, Andersen succeeds in giving every number on Countrypolitan a memorable treatment — something that is especially difficult in a solo setting.