Don’t forget Vic Juris – He always very attentive to the internal dynamics of a world-class “guitar-oriented”: Video, Photos

The long and fruitful career of Vic Juris (1953-2019) has always stood at high levels discographically, which have framed his style, a fluid jazz, impervious to fashions, self-confident, precious and slightly distant from the violent lights of the limelight.

In the 80s his name was indicated by the great masters of jazz guitar as an absolute reference for the future, instead Metheny, Frisell, Scofield arrived on the scene while Vic Juris, for many years a sideman in Dave Liebman’s group , went through his brilliant fusion phase and then continued, without getting upset at all, to build his long melodic lines within which his quiet speed could shine, collaborating as a sideman on many projects but above all recording a long series of albums under his own name. merit, there are a total of 26 of them, causing a sort of sober but tenacious cult to develop in Italy too, especially among the most attentive guitarists and jazz fans, mainly the result of word of mouth, of recovered records, various cassettes, then CDs obviously and again Mp3 files, now streaming etc.

His death, at just 66 years of age, on the verge of New Year’s Eve 2019/20, after a ferocious and long illness, has made him even dearer to us, in fact, even if we cannot now say on which media (?) music will be listened to in the future we are certain that his “cover photos” will improve significantly, and that his name will continue to circulate in the same ancient and artisanal way, to the great satisfaction of those who end up finding themselves in his art.

In 2015 Juris experienced a fate of Indian Summer, in fact he signed two albums in duo with the giant Phil Woods, two poignant Philology recordings which are also the last testimony of Phil Woods, and he also published yet another Steeplechase album, “Blue” , which we bring back to the reader today, after the ritual sprinkling.

Record of staid excellence, in a trio with the trusted Jay Anderson on bass and Adam Nussbaum on drums, again for the Danish label with which he made a long series of albums with very questionable, not to say atrocious, covers, but with content always very high level (for the series: never judge a book by its cover, a jazz musician by his publicist, etc., etc.).

And so returning to this “Blue” we can only confirm the impressions of when we bought it, in short we are faced with a great work, of stringent intensity and without any chipping.

Ballads with a clearly nocturnal atmosphere, such as Coleman’s masterpiece “Lonely Woman” proposed at the start, alternate with skilful reinterpretations (there is Monk, but also “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye!) and deep blues with original arrangements, with a Vic Juris always very attentive to the internal dynamics of a world-class “guitar-oriented” trio which finds its strengths in the naturalness of speech, the result of total mastery of the subject, and in the marked elegance that mutual listening offers both in the development of the solos, from which a measured, extraordinary Nussbaum practically abstains, and in the exposition of immortal themes such as “All The Things You Are” or “I Wish I Knew” itself.

The impressive technical mastery is strictly at the service of the music, and after the nostalgic, final “Remembering the Rain” the repeat button almost automatically clicks, or you look for another record, of the many that this generous, great guitarist of the New Jersey.