Like many titles released in 2021, Dan Siegels Faraway Place is a product of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was conceived and recorded mostly in isolation by a stellar cadre of musicians: drummers Vinnie Colaiuta, Steve Gadd, and Omari Williams, saxophonist Eric Marienthal, trumpeter/trombonist Lee Thornburg, guitarist Allen Hinds, acoustic bassist Brian Bromberg, electric bassists Abraham Laboriel and Dwayne Smitty Smith, and percussionist Lenny Castro. Brazilian vocalist Rogerio Jardim also appears on two tracks. Siegel composed the music in isolation and attended two socially distanced sessions in a Los Angeles studio with Gadd and Colaiuta. He sent the finished rhythm tracks with piano demos to his cast and had them add their parts, then added finished piano, accordion, organ, and other keyboards to frame these 11 short to mid-length jazz tunes, offered in a variety of styles. Old School commences with a funky soul-jazz vamp a la the Cadet era Ramsey Lewis Trio, appended by Castros bubbling congas around the piano and grooving horns with a chart as fine as Lee Morgans Sidewinder. Siegel layers a B-3 organ under his meaty piano fills and accents before Hinds adds funky wah-wah guitar atop Brombergs bassline as the jam begins to cook. Sentimental Story is a midtempo ballad framed by Castros fluid percussion and Gadds intricate brushwork. Hinds chord voicings and Brombergs resonant bassline allow Siegel to explore a melody that nods to the influence of Vince Guaraldi. Tried and True commences with a slippery, funky piano groove but quickly evolves as the horn section, bassline, and lead guitar lines build a groove recalling Gaucho-period Steely Dan. Something You Said is the first of four tunes to feature Siegels accordion playing. Here it whispers under the shimmering piano that crisscrosses folk and pop lyricism as Hinds and the rhythm section dance around them. Siegels solo expands the tune into post-bop territory. Curves Ahead with Williams on drums and Smith on electric bass, weds the vintage soul-jazz to Latin and contemporary jazz with a smoking electric piano solo and wafting organ. The brief Your Smile weds a classical chamber piece with Baroque overtones to samba. Only two-minutes long, it features Jardims airy, wordless vocals atop piano, upright bass, bassoon, English horn, and viola. Hinds pulsing wah-wah guitar and Laboriels simmering electric bassline underscore the prog rock-cum-contemporary jazz groove that colors Looking Up. Colaiutas rolling breaks and accents frame Siegels crystalline chords and canny right-hand fills before he delivers a downright funky solo. Closer Once Again, offers stylish contemporary post-bop with just the hint of a Latin tinge as Siegel walks the line between swing and soul and Bromberg digs deep into wood to extract the groove with the elegant syncopation of Colaiuta. Faraway Place stands with Siegels best work for its complex yet utterly accessible approach to rhythmic interplay and kaleidoscopic harmonic invention, all rendered in relatively brief but beautifully arranged compositions. ~ Thom Jurek

Rovi