Cordovan

Album Review

Cordovan is the stage name of Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist Greg Reeves, who claims jazz legends like Gil Evans and Charles Mingus as primary influences but whose debut album is more obviously shaped by his work creating film and TV scores. "Magma," for instance, combines a rolling funk groove with lush and pretty chordal washes and occasional interruptions of found-sound vocals and murky organ. "Blue Goo" is an excursion into a sort of broken beat/soul fusion, with occasional whiffs of smooth jazz thrown in just for fun. Then there's the glitchy (and, it must be said, rather tedious) "Sidewinder," with its screwed-up minimalist rhythm track and cute little bass solos. "Black Rock Dub" combines mellifluous bass, a broken beat and an even more broken vocal snippet (and then, later, big-band horn samples) into a very cool rhythmic collage. One of the album's finest tracks is the last on the program, a dark and lazy trip-hop excursion called "Sneaky's Beat." Not a perfect album, but an auspicious debut from a significant talent.