Max Gerl cover
Bass solos in jazz? Common. Solo bass jazz? Less so. Max Gerl opts for the latter over his previous efforts leading small combos and exploring the freshness of ‘70s-style fusion. His second album is appropriately self-titled because Max Gerl consists solely of Gerl plucking, strumming, popping, bowing, bending the strings and bases of his upright and electric low-end axes.
Throughout the course of six improvisations and five compositions, Gerl makes what could easily have been a self-indulgent display of technique into an avenue for actual tunes. Gerl is as apt to unfurl his funkiness as he is to use the more refined aspects of his Berklee College of Music training. Eleven consecutive helpings of the only instruments usually heard in the context of grounding melodies and harmonies may daunt some listeners. For those with attentive ears and open minds, however, Max Gerl should reward those willing to be so served.
